An Unlikely Duelist
by Rice Kracker
Summary: To help friends in need, Tristan Taylor registers for a Duel Monsters Tournament. But with Yugi, Tea and Joey going away for the summer, what sort of challenges await him - especially if it involves the spirit of the Millennium Ring?
1. Break Free

Author's Notes: Hello everyone, and thank you for taking the time to read my first official fanfiction attempt! The story is rated PG because of a li'l name-calling and a touch of shonen-ai (male/male). But I wouldn't think it would be enough to really offend anyone. Enjoy!

It was a beautiful summer afternoon in Domino City. School had been out of session for about a week, and students of all ages celebrated in the local park. The facility was alive with soccer practices, chess games and casual frisbee matches. With such a happy atmosphere and terrific weather, it seemed like a perfect day so far.

It was a shame that Tristan Taylor couldn't enjoy any of it.

His mood was rather downcast, due to a spanking at a game of Duel Monsters. In a span of two minutes, he lost to a fellow park occupant, a boy who couldn't have been older than eight. His companion, Joey Wheeler, wasn't making matters any rosier, either.

"What'd I tell ya? Looks like somebody's out of practice!" said Joey, snickering. He and Tristan were taking a short stroll around the grassy fields. The former teen was cheerful and energetic. The latter, sullen and sluggish.

"Joey, look, that kid pulled out a "Lord of D." monster card, a "The Flute of Summoning Dragon" magic card and two "Tyrant Dragon" monster cards on the first draw. He got lucky," said Tristan, shrugging.

"Why Tristan," Joey replied in a mock-superior fashion, "Everybody KNOWS that a good deck is always lucky."

"Yeah, yeah..." mumbled Tristan. Deciding to rest, he spotted one of the available park benches, and dropped on it, sighing. Joey laughed and joined him, telling him not to be such a drama queen.

"Though it's too bad I'll be missing the Duel Monsters tournament. I could've won it FOR ya," said Joey, striking a heroic pose.

"Ah, I could do without," said Tristan. "Now if YUGI could play..." He put a hand to his chin in thought, smiling.

"Hey, hey, hey -- you want my help or not?" Joey warned, half-heartedly.

"All right, all right... So since Duel Monsters is out of the question, how else will I get the goods for --"

"Well, wait a minute, Tristan..." Joey cut him off. "I wouldn't give up on the tournament yet. Even YOU could become a decent duelist if you found someone to tutor you."

"Tutor me?" asked Tristan, incredulous. "Like who?" The options were limited: Yugi was preparing to go to an expedition with his grandpa in Egypt, Tea was off college-hunting in New York, and Joey himself was leaving tonight with Serenity to visit distant relatives. Who else would volunteer?

"Eh, I don't know..." said Joey scratching his chin, "Duke Devlin?"

Tristan gagged. "A snowball's chance in HELL that I'll turn to that... that... QUEERBIE for help!" he sputtered. "And Joey, I'm surprised that YOU of all people would even SUGGEST that idea."

"What, the whole dog costume thing? I'm over it," Joey grinned, leaning back on the bench. "And you two should really drop this li'l rivalry issue over Serenity. I'm not letting EITHER of you near her. And besides..." Joey snuck a side glance at Tristan. "Hasn't all the time you two spent in Battle City mean ANYTHING to you?" A wider grin spread on his face.

"You mean all that time spent scrapping over Serenity?" Tristan frowned and crossed his arms. "I think NOT. Well, I'm not resorting to Devlin, if that's what you're getting at."

"Whatevuh," said Joey, conceding. "Then how about Bakura?"

Bakura. Tristan hadn't thought much about him since that time on the Pier after Duel Towers...

__

" How's that arm of yours, Bakura?" asked Tristan, eyeing the blood-encrusted bandage.

"Much better, thanks," Bakura replied with a scant smile.

"Man, I am so glad that this thing is finally over," said Tristan, hands in pockets. "I can't wait to go back to a normal, monster-free life. And anyway..." Tristan lowered his voice. "Kaiba's food was second-rate. You should go to Cabeza's Kitchen. Now THAT's what I call good eatin'!"

"Heh..." Bakura had a wider smile this time. "I'll keep that in mind."

The conversation drifted, and Tristan snuck a glance at Bakura staring into the glowing ocean view. The rich sunset colors illuminated his face, which had a peaceful, yet lonely expression...

"YO, TRISTAN!" yelled Joey, snapping his fingers. "IF YOU'RE FINISHED FANTASIZING ABOUT BAKURA..."

"Whu? NO!! I wasn't!" said Tristan, jerking up. "I was just weighing my options, that's all. And dammit, do you have to be so LOUD?"

"One of my many talents," Joey replied with a curt bow. "And I was going to tell you if things come to worse, and you lose the tournament, you can always ask Money-Bags for a little handout."

"KAIBA!!? Joey, he's a cold-blooded, self-interested businessman! And just because you have a crush on the guy doesn't mean that he'll give me a freebie!" said Tristan, suddenly grinning.

Joey paled, but quickly recovered. "It usually never hurts to ask," he said, staring at the sky. "And besides, I thought you said you'd do whatever it takes to help out the Cabezas."

Tristan remembered. "Do you honestly think that Kaiba Corp will sponsor a hole-in-the-wall restaurant?" He meekly asked.

"Crazier things have happened," Joey replied, stretching. "Anyway, I better get going. But before I do..." He rummaged through a bag he was carrying, and pulled out a rectangular tin box. He opened it, and took out a few Duel Monster cards. "I figure I should follow Yugi and Tea's example and loan you out some cards for the tournament." He held up one of the cards in Tristan's line of vision. It was a "Gearfried the Iron Knight" Monster card. "You remember the story behind Gearfried, doncha Tristan?"

"Yeah," said Tristan, thinking. "There was once a warrior who was called the Master Swordsman. He happened to be so powerful, that he had to lock himself in an suit of armor to prevent himself from causing mass destruction. Thus, he became Gearfried the Iron Knight," he said, finishing with a flourish.

"Right, and I think this card suits you more than anything else in my deck. You're locking up all of your potential in a shell of self-doubt."

In Joey's other hand was a magic card. "This is the card that transforms Gearfried back into the Master Swordsman," he said. "You just need something to help you break free and play at your best. Here." He handed the cards to Tristan.

Tristan was quiet for a moment. "Joey, that was lamest analogy ever. But... thanks." He hugged Joey compulsively, patting his back.

"Ugh, get away!" said Joey, pushing Tristan back. "And you accuse ME of being a fag?" He flashed his patented, two-bit smirk.

"Okay, okay," said Tristan, holding up his hands in surrender. "Say hello to Serenity for me, will you?"

"Will do," said Joey. He stood up from the bench, and picked up his bag. "Good luck, buddy." He walked away, while giving a short wave of good-bye.

Tristan waved back. After a while, he stared at his newly borrowed cards. All of the monster cards were of the Warrior classification. Warriors were always revered for their bravery He hoped that he himself could find the courage to make two of the most nervewracking phonecalls ever.

Continued...

Thanks for reading!


	2. Planning Stages

Author's notes: Gracious, I'd forgotten to mention that this story takes place between the Duel Tower and Orichalcos episodes. I'd also forgotten the disclaimer saying that I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. Nor Cheerios. Warnings include language, character musings, and preposterous usage of business terms. Heh!

OIOIOIO

The next morning, Tristan set out scribbling a "To Do" list for the day. It read:

Grocery Shopping

Clean garage

Take Blankey to vet for checkup

Call Bakura

Call Kaiba

Calling Kaiba. Lord, what was Joey ON when he suggested to consult THIS guy? Tristan knew that Kaiba, with his snooty and uncomprimising ways, would consider this type of charity beneath his dignity. Attempting to even have a decent conversation with him was a lost cause...

Tristan decided to abandon his train of thought in favor of breakfast. After gathering all of the necessary ingredients for cereal, he sat himself at the table, and poured out the last of the Cheerios and milk. Dang. Now he'd have to get more at the grocery store.

Speaking of lost causes, Tristan thought, what possessed him to think that he was capable of making it to the _second round_ of a Duel Monsters Tournament, let alone WINNING it? The last time he actually _played_ the game was in Noa's virtual world, and he lost every single duel 1. With or without Bakura's help, there is no way to turn a bigtime loser into a champion overnight. For sure, he'd have to kiss that tournament prize money good-bye. Thus, his only option of getting ANY money of such high caliber, short of winning the lottery, was Kaiba.

... But of course, Kaiba would reject the idea the minute Tristan delivered it that is, if he was even given the chance to. Then again, it was awful presumptuous to expect anyone, even Kaiba, to pony up the cash for something that had NOTHING to do with his interests whatsoever...

Youchies. Tristan's head was beginning to hurt. He finished up his soggy cereal and found himself hungry. Still. He sighed cereal does NOT a man's breakfast make. The Cabeza Early Bird Special, on the other hand, was sacred material to breakfast-goers.

He grew somber at this. How ironic it was to so casually bring up the object of his worries. Cabeza's Kitchen was, for one of many aspects, his home away from home. The place was more like a diner than a restaurant Tristan just called it a restaurant out of habit and he found the casual atmosphere to be comforting.

But honestly, what made the diner so close to Tristan's heart were the owners, Mr. and Mrs. Cabeza. A really nice couple, they pretty much ran the joint by themselves. Ever since he served as kitchen help, they had treated Tristan like one of their own. So when Tristan was informed that the diner would be closing in a couple of months, he was more than a little perturbed.

__

"What will you do after closing, Mrs. Cabeza?" asked Tristan, his concern rising.

"Don't know, son," she replied. "We'll probably collect some unemployment checks, and look for restaurant help-wanteds. It won't be so bad. Besides, Anthony and I are approaching retirement age, anyway!" she finished, laughing.

At that, Tristan could barely fake a smile. He knew that with unemployment on the rise, and social security down the crapper, the couple would have a hard time adjusting after closing down.

They might never_ recover from the loss..._

That was when Tristan decided to embark on a quest to keep Cabeza's Kitchen running.

He considered the predicament: Business had been slow, and although the slump had recently lifted, the Cabezas no longer had sufficient funds to pay for rental fees and supplies. So far, every attempt to gather the funds had failed.

Nevertheless, Tristan would do whatever it took to get the money to keep the diner alive, whether it meant entering a conveniently-placed tournament to win the sizable cash prize, or groveling before the President of a popular gaming corporation. He would find a way.

Of course, it was then that he was splashed with a bucket of reality, ice-cold, and he realized that the endeavor would be harder than originally intended no matter how determined he was.

Which brings him back to the present: WOULD he win the Duel Monster's Tournament? WOULD he be convincing enough to Kaiba? Fat Chance, he thought bitterly. Why BOTHER if he'd only set himself up for failure...

But wait. He remembered what Joey had told him yesterday; what was it? That he was sealing himself in a shell of self-doubt? Huh, easy for Joey to say; at least Tristan had legitimate reasons for his doubts. Furthermore, Tristan's plans were embarassing enough as it was. Thus, he had to face failure AND humiliation. Peachy KEEN.

And then Tristan remembered that Joey had once said that he'd do whatever he could for his loved ones, even if it meant rolling around in mud for them 2.

__

Sacrificing everything, even dignity, for the people you love? Yugi had done it for his grandfather. For Joey, his sister. Couldn't Tristan do the same for Mr. and Mrs. Cabeza? Even if it meant facing said failure and humiliation?

If he couldn't do it for himself, Tristan decided, then he'd do it for them.

OIOIOIO

Perched high in Domino City's downtown district was the spacious domain of KaibaCorp. Inside, a receptionist took advantage of her free time to catch up on her magazines. Suddenly, an all-too familiar ringtone interrupted her concentration. Issuing a small groan, she punched the button for Line 1.

"KaibaCorp, this is Shannon, how may I help you?" she stated.

"Hi, this is Tristan Taylor. I'd like to arrange an appointment this week for Seto Kaiba, please."

"Sir, Mr. Kaiba is booked for the next three months. He won't be available until September 15th."

Tristan's heart sank. Cabeza's Kitchen would have closed by then.

"Uh, in that case, may I be connected to his direct line? I... want to discuss a fundraising effort with him."

"One moment, please." The line went silent.

And Tristan waited. A few moments later, he greeted by a frigidly stern voice:

"What is it, Taylor."

Well, HEY now. Kaiba actually took his call. And remembered his NAME, too! Surely, Armageddon was afoot. Either way, Tristan had to ask for the favor. It was now or never.

"Um, hi... Have you ever considered investing in other businesses?" asked Tristan. He deliberately refrained from mentioning Kaiba's name. He wanted to be as civil as possible, but he'll be damned if he'd ever address Kaiba as 'Mister.'

Silence. "No."

Tristan was feeling odder by the second. How could he possibly phrase this?

"Suppose for charitable purposes, you'd fund a struggling business to enable our dragging economy," said Tristan. _Whew_, he thought. When it came to bullshitting, he could do it pretty good.

"You want me to funnel money into an establishment to keep it in business."

"...Yes. Cabeza's Kitchen on 14th Avenue," Tristan said, softly. "It's just a loan," he added. "I could pay it off in increments!" Tristan wouldn't mind being in debt for the next 75 years much.

More silence. "I've sponsored an upcoming Duel Monsters Tournament. You should register."

"I've heard," said Tristan, surprised. "And I'm already registered."

"How fortunate. Then you can gather the necessary funds by winning it. Good day." With a click and a delayed hum of dialtone, it was over.

Tristan breathed a sigh of relief. That went better than expected. At least Kaiba was polite. And he remembered his name! _A two-for-one package_, thought Tristan, grinning despite himself.

So winning the Tournament was his only available option left. Okay, that was where Bakura would come in. Tristan really hated to bother Bakura over a trivial issue like card games. And having to admit that he sucked at said card games wasn't appealing either. Then again, it'd be nice to spend time with Bakura again... Wait, he did NOT just say that!

Besides, if Bakura was busy, he'd say so, Tristan thought. Self-assured, he pulled out the Student Directory, and dialed Bakura's listed number.

"Bakura, hi, it's Tristan... Yeah, it's been a while, huh? So how's Summer break been? ... Uh huh ... Yeah, I saw it, wasn't too bad, actually... Oh! Okay, you know of the Second Annual Duel Monsters Tournament? It's held at the KaibaCorp Dueling Arena... Really? And you're not going? ... Huh, you're telling me...

"... My point? Heh, well, I need to ask you a huge favor; see, I've actually signed up for the Tournament... Yeah... Anyway, I'm not the best duelist in the world, so I was wondering if you could give me some pointers...

"... Really? You can? ...

"... You don't have to do that, you can just tell me over the phone... All right, then I'll bring lunch pizza good? What kind? ... Yeah, I think I got the address okay, I'll just check out the Directory... So I'll see you tomorrow, then... Bye."

Tristan had to smile. Small-talking with Bakura was sorta fun, just like old times at Duelist Kingdom. Now that he thought about it, for some reason, Bakura just had this bizarre calming effect on him. But of course, Tristan remembered that behind that gentle personality lay a mysterious, even sinister presence. That ring he wore on that necklace of his...

Tristan shook his head. Ugh, he was thinking way too much for his own good. Besides, he had other chores to complete for the day.

"Oh, BLANKEY!" He called, searching for his pet dog. "Guess who's taking a trip to the vet today!"

Continued...

OIOIOIO

Afterthoughts:

1 With all my sources, I know that Tristan has technically dueled at least twice in the Noa arc. The first one, with Duke and Serenity against that... machine... guy... I think his name was Nezbet. And the second one, against Yugi and others when he was possessed by the Big 5. He lost in both. Big deal, Tristan's still cool, dammit!

2 I recall Joey saying this in a translated version of the manga, circa Duelist Kingdom. Scanlation websites rule! Many thanks, Jenniyah and Janime!

Thank you's: Hey, I really appreciate all the reviews! As Filbert said, "It keeps me going." (From _Rocko's Modern Life_: Anyone remember that cartoon? No? Aww...)

****

Jaye-R Scarab: Gah, THANK YOU! I'm trying to go for everything that you said about my story! Yay, yay, yay! slaps self whoo... So happy... By the way, for "All Downhill From Here," I believe Tea should be paired with Malik. Hands down.

****

Nanashi2: My story got added to your favorites? Ahhhh! What an honor! And to hear compliments coming from you... damn... And you are absolutely right, Tristan's a totally underappreciated character. Tristan fans, unite! Heh, by the way, I made an error in my review for "If Only I knew": I meant to say "Don't worry about the shortness or FORMALITY of it," not "Don't ... shortness or _familiarity_ of it. Better get my eyes checked! And yes, I'm nerdy enough to check my own reviews. .

****

Little-kei: WHASSUUUP! Thanks so much for your review! Yeah, my chapter was a little short, but for some reason, I find long fics so hard to read. My attention span can't last that long! XX All right, for you, this chapter's more substantial than the last! I think the next chapter will be even longer! Hehehe! Also, thanks, I try to portray the characters as accurately as possible, though I feel that Yami Bakura will be a little off-kilter. Kaiba, too. Ack! Oh, and as for Tristan/Bakura and Joey/Kaiba possibilities, you'll just have to wait and see.

Peace!


	3. Bakura: Whole New Game

Author's notes: Suc-CESS! Chapter 3! Watch yourselves, this one's _long_. Warnings include a bit of swearing, a drawn-out duel and some shonen-ai if you look for it (grin). Also, I don't own any Yu-Gi-Oh or Ziploc rights.

OIOIOIO

The following afternoon, Tristan pulled up to Bakura's residence. It was a five-story apartment complex, with small windows, no balconies and a simple brown and white paint job. To Tristan, the apartment sort of resembled Bakura- conservative and withdrawn, impossible to see what was going on inside. But maybe it was just him.

He entered the apartment's basement level, and parked his motorcycle in the guest's lot. He took off his helmet, and unpacked the pizza boxes ingeniously tied to the seat - heh, who says that he wasn't resourceful? He then walked to the call box, where Bakura buzzed him in, and he took the elevator to the fourth floor.

"Room 405... ah, there it is," muttered Tristan. He stood in front of the door, hesitating. For a second, the area seemed to have some kind of creepy aura surrounding it. He brushed off the feeling, and knocked.

After a few seconds, the door opened to reveal Bakura, dressed in an olive-colored pullover sweater and khakis. His type of dress clashed with Tristan's red jacket, white t-shirt and jeans; in fact, the two boys tended to have entirely different tastes and styles. They were friends, regardless.

"Hello, Tristan," he said with a smile. "Come on in."

"Hey, Bakura. Thanks." Tristan returned the smile and stepped inside. "Erm, where should I put these?" he asked, referring to the pizza boxes.

"Kitchen counter," replied Bakura, nodding to his left. "By the way, did you bring your deck?" he asked, nonchalant.

"You bet," said Tristan, returning from the kitchen.

"Great. Then Duel Monsters 101 is officially in session," said Bakura, with an expression akin to amusement. He ventured toward at a table that was set on the side of the living room. Then he gestured for Tristan to join him. "Care to take a seat?" he asked.

"Sure."

As Bakura sat himself at the table, Tristan picked up the other chair from the opposite side and brought it close to Bakura's. When Tristan sat down, he noticed Bakura's look of surprise.

"Sorry, I thought I could see and hear things better if I was closer," said Tristan. "I'll just move b-"

"There's no need," Bakura murmured. His face was now turned away from Tristan's view. "That's actually a good idea."

"Okay." Hoping to lighten the mood, Tristan opened his backpack and took out a ziploc bag full of Duel Monster cards. "Wanna review my deck for me?" he asked.

When Bakura at last turned around and saw Tristan's zip-locked deck, his face contorted into mild disgust. "Tristan, is THAT how you keep your cards?"

"Eh... heh... yeah," Tristan sheepishly replied.

Bakura shook his head. "Then we ought to get you a proper box to store them in. You should take better care of your cards."

"Well sure, MOM, but shouldn't the effectiveness of my deck be the most important thing here?" asked Tristan, grinning impishly.

Bakura narrowed his eyes. "Just give me your deck," he said, huffing. When his request was complied, he flipped through the cards. "Weak monsters... ineffective magic and trap cards... No coexistent links between your cards... Tristan, your deck irrevocably SUCKS."

"Yeah, yeah, no need to rub it in..." Tristan muttered. He crossed his arms with an exaggerated gloom.

Bakura laughed. "Now, now... All you need is a strategy. What sort of deck are you shooting for?"

"Come again?" asked Tristan, quirking his eyebrows.

"A strategic deck type. Do you want a Burn Deck,' a "Crush Deck...'"

"How about a Kick your damn ASS deck!'"

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Let's just go along with a Beatdown Deck.' Your cards seem to have that kind of style, anyway. In case you didn't know, a Beatdown Deck' Strategy involves monsters hacking away at the opponent's lifepoints through battle damage, until the lifepoint count hits zero. Simple, no?" Bakura's smile came dangerously close to resembling a smirk.

Now it was Tristan's turn to roll his eyes. "Isn't that what you're supposed to do in the first place?"

"It's a way to play, of course," said Bakura, with an air of diablerie. "But there are many ways to win the game, if you do things right."

The statement made Tristan think. He truly did appreciate Bakura's knack for Duel Monsters and gaming in general. He had to admit that the guy was gifted. And maybe something more...

"Tristan, you okay?" asked Bakura, eyeing him with suspicion. "It's a lot to chew on, isn't it?" he teased.

"Uh, yeah! It is," said Tristan. _C'mon Taylor, find something to change the subject..._ _Hey! I totally forgot to show him..._ "Bakura, I forgot that I've got some other cards." He reached into his backpack, and brought out a binder. He took out the cards, which were tucked in the side pockets, and gave them to Bakura. "These were the ones that Yugi, Joey and Tea gave me for the Tournament. Bet THOSE are better."

"Hm Goodness, 'Magical Cylinders,' 'Stray Lambs,' 'Maha Vailo' They certainly have good taste, that's for sure." He eyed Tristan with a smile. "Strange how you don't take after them."

Tristan gasped in mock-surprise. "Just for that, I challenge you to a DUEL, good sir!" said Tristan, pointing dramatically. "Um, that is, after lunch?" he asked, patting his stomach.

Bakura laughed. "All right then, challenge accepted, after lunch." His eyes held a rather mischievous light. "Just don't go crying when you get beat, Monkey Boy."

OIOIOIO

On their second game, Bakura finally finished Tristan off with a snatched "Goblin Strike Force," whose controller switched from Tristan to Bakura.

"And THAT, my friend, is why Change of Heart' is my favorite card," said Bakura, triumphantly. "The last two games are mine. Convinced NOW that your deck needs work?"

"Three's a charm - one more duel!" said Tristan, cheerfully.

Bakura sighed. "Fine, but afterwards, I insist that we visit a card store to get you better supplied for the Tournament. Especially getting a _box_ for your cards." He grimaced in memory of the Ziploc horrors.

"Deal," Tristan agreed. "But this time, I'll show you what my deck has _really_ got!" He then turned his attentions to shuffling his cards to prep for the new game. Had he looked up, Tristan would have noticed the soft glow that emanated beneath Bakura's pullover.

When third duel between Tristan and Bakura commenced, things didn't differ any more from usual; they switched decks to cut, and determined who would make the first move. But after the first few turns, Tristan began to sense that something weird was going on. He normally wouldn't notice anything at all; he'd be too occupied with his cards to catch things other than the vocal broadcastings made by his opponent. But strangely, Bakura hadn't said a word since the duel had begun.

"Man, Bakura, you're so quiet..." he said, initially out of concern. Then, thinking of the silence as Bakura's method of throwing him off, he smiled bemusedly. "...But if you think giving me the Silent Treatment will save you from defeat, think again," Tristan finished. He looked up at Bakura to find his own good-natured smile met with a broad, maniacal grin.

****

"Rest assured, _Tristan_, silence is the least of your worries."

Wow, thought Tristan. For an act, Bakura was doing a bang-up job. He was looking crazier by the minute. He had a different voice, a feral visage, and - damn, he must have put on mascara and messed up his hair when Tristan wasn't looking.

Wait... He had seen this face before. It couldn't be! Didn't Marik send... No. But it IS. Bakura must have gotten back the Ring somehow. And the evil spirit that inhabited the Ring had returned to possess him. Again.

"It's you," he said numbly. He glared at the figure ahead of him. "There's no getting rid of you, is there?"

****

"I reside in shadows. And shadows are quenchless. Remember that." Bakura' had a relaxed expression now, like a predator eyeing a piece of meat.

"..." Tristan didn't know what to do. He knew it was useless to dispose of the Ring - it would just mysteriously return, like it always had. Violence was out of the question - once was enough. After pondering his options, Tristan decided to chuck prudence out the window and go with his gut.

"So, Evil Spirit... you here to train me too?" asked Tristan. Though he had a sarcastic tone, he really was curious of why it was here. Hopefully he'd get an answer before he was stripped of his flesh or something.

Bakura' laughed, darkly. He eventually settled into a diabolical smirk. **"Why not. What better way to improve your skills than challenging yourself at a whole new game?"**

At this, Tristan shivered, sick to his stomach. He looked around him. The table and chairs - the whole living room, in fact - was gone. Both duelists were standing in a dark, empty stimuli, murky with swirling fog.

Even more outstanding were the appearances of the Duel Monster cards on the field - it looked almost exactly like Kaiba's VR technology that makes the game look almost life-like. The mat-sized, face-down cards were floating parallel to the field a short distance away from him.

Then he looked in his immediate vicinity. The huge spectacle mimicked the regular cards that were suspended in air directly in front of him: His deck of cards floated to his right. His graveyard was a blurry dark patch on his left.

While the playing field became grander, the stakes grew higher as well. Tristan was sure that this had to be one of those "Shadow Duels" he's heard of so often. And he knew that if he lost this "Shadow Duel," he'd get a one-way ticket to the Shadow REALM. Not a good place to be. _And ... who else would keep Mr. and Mrs. Cabeza in business?_

****

"Shall we continue?" asked Bakura, er, the evil spirit.

Tristan swallowed nervously, gripping the Duel Monster cards in his hand. There was no use in asking why this was happening - with all the crazy goings-on lately, this should be routine enough. After a deep breath, he stood straighter. "It's your move," he replied.

OIOIOIO

The Game continued.

The evil spirit drew a card and added it to its hand. **"I set a monster card in defensive mode, and set a magic/trap card. Your turn."**

Well, at least Bakura' was talking again.

"Ergh..." Tristan drew a card, and looked at his hand. He was at a total loss. _What to do?_ he thought. _At least the evil spirit's monster isn't in attack mode - I could always nail it, and keep the spirit on defense. But it could be bait for something else!_

Tristan looked at the spirit's side of the field. So far, it had one monster set in defense, and three magic/trap (m/t) cards set. Meanwhile, Tristan's side of the field was completely empty. All of his monsters were wiped out by Bakura's Needle Ceiling,' and he had no relevant m/t cards to play. Then Tristan took note of the lifepoint count: the spirit's lifepoints were at a full 8000, and his were knocked down to 4500. Unfortunately for Tristan, this game hadn't been in his favor from the start.

Gotta risk it... thought Tristan. "Okay... first, I set a m/t card. Then I summon Command Angel, in attack mode!"

A winged woman dressed in military attire then appeared with a flash of light.

"Command Angel - attack the spirit's face-down monster!" The woman flew, blazing towards her target, and with a fierce, one-two punch, shattered the card, revealing it to be... huh, he'd never seen THAT monster before...

He looked at the spirit to find that it was pleased at this.

****

"You've destroyed my Emissary of the Afterlife. When it's sent from the field to the graveyard, its effect allows us to select one level 3 or lower monster from our deck to add to our hand." The spirit looked through its deck, and pulled out a card. **"I will choose the Goblin King."** It revealed the card for Tristan to see. **"And you?"**

Aw man, he had to show it, too? "I choose the Magician of Faith," he said, holding up his card.

****

"Have you finished your turn?" asked the spirit. It shuffled its deck.

"Yep," said Tristan, who also shuffled his cards. He was feeling pretty confident - the monster chosen by the spirit was the weakest he'd EVER seen, an incredible 0 Attack and 0 Defense.

****

"Now, for my turn, I activate the trap cards Ultimate Offering and Life Absorbing Machine!" With flashing sparks, two trap cards flipped up on the spirit's Spell and Trap Zone.

****

"Ultimate Offering allows us both to summon as many monsters as we desire to fit the Monster Zone, granted we pay the 500 lifepoint fee for each extra monster. However, with Life Absorbing Machine in play, I alone will pay any fee at half-price."

"Deal of the century," said Tristan, dryly.

The spirit seemed something short of amused. **"With this, I summon Skull Knight #2, in attack mode."** A skeleton garbed in ebony armor with gold linings rose from the murky ground. **"Now, paying the fee for an extra summon, I sacrifice my Skull Knight #2 to tribute summon Dark Ruler Ha Des!"** The Skull Knight swirled into nothingness. Then, with a deafening rumble, colorful sparks preluded the arrival of a richly robed monster, carrying a goblet of wine. The monster looked so regal and important, that Tristan figured it was probably a big part of the spirit's plan.

Suddenly, another Skull Knight #2 appeared in attack mode on the field.

"Hey... you didn't pay the fee for THAT guy," Tristan pointed out.

****

"There's no need to. Once a Skull Knight #2 is tribute summoned for another fiend-type monster, another Skull Knight is special summoned from my deck. You realize I only have to pay for normal summons." The spirit smirked. **"Really, Tristan, you should brush up on your homework."**

"Yeah, whatever. Are you DONE, Coach Carter?"

****

"Not yet. I will once again pay the extra fee to tribute my other Skull Knight for the Patrician of Darkness." Through a plume of smoke, a vampiric being emerged, sporting black and crimson armor.

"Ooh... So where's your other Skull Knight?" asked Tristan, smugly.

****

"Fortunately for you, Patrician of Darkness is a Zombie-type monster, and not a Fiend-type. Another Skull Knight will not be special summoned. Next, I activate Monster Reborn to special summon an old friend; my Lesser Fiend." A bright beam shot out of the spirit's graveyard, and out stepped a grotesque mixture of a wolf and a minotaur.

****

"And now, my final summon..." the spirit said.

WHAT! Another summon? thought Tristan. Look at how many monsters it's got on the field already in just one turn! That had to be a miraculously excellent hand. Or more likely, the bastard cheated! Yeah, had to be... Then it started to sink in. Three high-level monster on the spirit's field, so far. One low-level monster on his in ATTACK MODE. Oh LORD, this was going to SUCK!

The spirit interrupted his thoughts. **"I will make one more payment to summon one of my better monsters: the Goblin King!"**

A multi-colored pool formed on the spirit's field. Then it began to writhe and contort, shooting upwards to form a large throne. Seated in the blue-plushed throne was a tiny green creature dressed in a crimson, fur-lined robe and a gleaming crown.

And both of its Attack and Defense points were zero.

"Some monster," said Tristan, "Even Kuribo can beat THAT thing." Then he watched in horror as the Attack and Defense number increased. And increased. And increased some more.

The spirit laughed insanely. **"He is called the Goblin King for a reason. For every fiend-type monster on my side of the field, excluding himself, he gets a power boost of 1000. There are two other fiends on my field. Even you could do the math."**

Tristan's eyes widened. A 2000 Attack! Combined with all those other monsters... Even with his Command Angel there to block some of the damage, it'll still be enough to take him out.

Then... that meant it was all over. He couldn't... Wait. There was still that trap card he laid down, from his last turn. If he could pair it up with any of these cards... Yeah, that could work...!

****

"Now I enter my battle phase," said Bakura, smiling wickedly. **"First, my Lesser Fiend will attack your Command Angel."** The Lesser Fiend reared, and shot out a huge stream of fire that burst through the Command Angel, and slammed right into Tristan.

"Gahh..." he groaned. He actually... FELT that?

****

"You remember that thanks to my Lesser Fiend's special ability, your monster is now removed from play." The spirit narrowed its eyes. **"It seems you've lost your only monster on the field. Now the rest of my monsters can attack you directly. Let's hope that face-down card of yours will help you."**

__

No kidding, thought Tristan.

****

"Now my monsters will attack!" the spirit declared. The Patrician of Darkness extended its claws and slashed. Dark Ruler Ha Des, using its free hand, expelled a large stream of dark energy. The Goblin King rose from its throne and transformed into a huge beast that spewed a surge of black goo. All three attacks headed Tristan's way.

And then...

"I activate my trap card, A Hero Emerges!" Tristan's card flipped over revealing itself. "Whenever my opponent declares an attack, he chooses a card from my hand. If the card's a monster, it's immediately special summoned onto the field. If it isn't a monster, it's sent to my graveyard."

Tristan held out his four cards. "So, Evil Spirit... which card will you choose?"

****

"The second card to your left. Is it a monster?"

Tristan smiled. "As a matter of fact..."

He was interrupted by an explosion created from the spirit's attack. Resulting smoke blocked the vision of both players for a few seconds. When the field cleared, a monster was crouching in front of Tristan, intact.

****

"What's this? A Celtic Guardian?"

"Wrong," Tristan wagged his finger. "It's an OBNOXIOUS Celtic Guardian. And you should know that this guy can't be destroyed in battle when he spars with monsters with an Attack of 1900 or more. And judging by your monsters' powerful attack levels, NONE of them can do a thing about it."

The spirit looked mildly surprised. Then it smiled, rather pleasantly. **"Well done."**

Tristan blinked. "Wh... Why... ARE YOU DONE?" He stammered, flabbergasted at the strange remark.

The spirit swept its hand, palm up, in invitation. **"Go ahead."**

"About time... sheesh..." Tristan drew a card. _Hey, this card'll do..._ "I play the magic card, Pot of Greed! I get to draw two more cards." A giant green pot appeared on the field, and Tristan reached inside to grab two cards. _All right... I've got a pretty good selection here..._

"Okay, now I summon Giant Orc in attack mode!" A large gray behemoth appeared, brandishing a huge bone-club. It had a large attack power of 2200, enough to destroy most of the other monsters. Tristan decided to take out the Lesser fiend, because of its devastating special ability.

"Giant Orc - attack the Lesser Fiend!" The Giant Orc roared, rushing forward to bludgeon its target.

****

"Not so fast... or have you considered the Patrician of Darkness' special ability?"

The eyes of the Patrician of Darkness glowed. Then it slowly raised a hand to point at the Dark Ruler Ha Des. Hypnotized, the Giant Orc swerved away from the Lesser Fiend to attack Dark Ruler Ha Des instead. With its stronger attack power, Dark Ruler Ha Des counter-attacked and blew away the Giant Orc.

Tristan got clipped from the attack, and his lifepoints were shaved down to 3750. "Let me guess..." he said. "The Patrician of Darkness can direct my attacks to whichever monster it chooses on your side of the field."

****

"Clever boy."

"Heh, you don't know the half of it. I set this m/t card, and end my turn." Tristan was feeling pretty good. That trap card he just laid down will do a great deal of damage. Best of all, the Obnoxious Celtic Guardian will buy him time to draw the cards he needed to turn this duel around. He silently thanked Yugi Moto for lending it to him.

It was the spirit's turn again, and it drew a new card. It grinned devilishly at its choice. **"Bad news for you, Tristan. Now I play the magic card Stop Defense!"**

Tristan watched in horror as the Obnoxious Celtic Guardian stood up, switching from defensive mode to an attacking position.

****

"Your Obnoxious Celtic Guardian won't be destroyed by my monsters because of its special effect. You WILL however, take battle damages once it is in attack mode."

Gulp. It's got him there.

****

"Now my monsters will attack the Celtic Guardian - and you." The spirit's monsters released their respective energies aiming at the Obnoxious Celtic Guardian. The attacks passed through their target harmlessly, only to pummel right into Tristan's body.

"Aagh!" Tristan doubled over in pain. He couldn't imagine a simple game hurting that much... Now he knew how Joey must have felt back at Battle Ship. With the Obnoxious Celtic Guardian to filter the attacks, his lifepoints were drained to a minuscule 800.

****

"My turn ends."

It was now Tristan's turn, as he shakily drew a card. He knew he had to tough it out, or he might not even _have_ a next turn. He looked at his selection of cards, and felt a smile creep on his face. Getting even wasn't a virtue, but it sure as heck felt _good_.

"For my turn, I activate my face-down trap card, Just Desserts! This card ensures that my opponent loses 500 lifepoints for each monster they have on the field!"

Upon activation of Just Desserts, a rotund, pink creature appeared on the field, and counted the number of monsters on the spirit's side. When it counted four, it raised its hands, and fired four bolts of energy at the spirit, who took the blow full-force. Ooh, that's gonna leave a mark. Tristan noticed that the spirit's lifepoints were now cut down to 5250. Yay, he actually caused direct damage that time!

"But that's not all," said Tristan. "I'll play the magic card that will CRIPPLE your army of monsters - activate After Genocide! When my turn ends, this card will destroy every monster involved in any damage calculations. Unfortunately, it'll take my Obnoxious Celtic Guardian. But say sayonara to ALL of YOURS!"

Tristan couldn't help but add a dramatic flair to it all. DAMN, this was cool! "Finally, I'll place this monster in defensive mode." He looked up to grin at the spirit. "Oh, and did I mention that I'll end my turn?"

At this, a grassy area littered with fallen medieval knights appeared on the dueling field. Abruptly, the whole field crumbled into a darkening abyss, taking most of the monsters with it. Some of the spirit's monsters actually screeched as it plunged into the narrowing crevice below. Then the field returned to normal, supporting only Tristan's face-down monster.

Tristan looked up again, expecting to see a royally pissed-off spirit. Instead, it seemed to be... pleased?

****

"Impressive."

Man, what will take to SHAKE this bastard?

****

"My turn." It drew a card. **"I activate the magic card, Dark Snake Syndrome. Starting from my next standby phase, 200 points of damage will be inflicted to us both, and damages will double for each of my turns. I suggest you find a way to defeat me quickly, before this card will finish you."**

Tristan watched in horrid fascination as a snake-like tattoo formed on his arm, and entwined its way to his shoulder blade. He shuddered to think of how it would finish him off.

****

"I will also set a monster in defensive mode, and end my turn."

Tristan found himself in a bit of a pickle. He had, what, two more turns to beat it? He couldn't normal summon enough powerful monsters in that amount of time to do the necessary damage! Sure, even though the spirit will lose lifepoints too, it will long outlast him to be of any relevance.

He took a deep breath, and drew a card. Then he reviewed his cards looking for something to jump at him, a solution, ANYTHING.

And then it came. _Aw, yeah._

Tristan straightened up for his move. "Okay, Evil Spirit, you ready for this! First, I activate the magic card, Monster Reborn! Hm, who to resurrect? Choices, choices... I think I'll settle on your Dark Ruler Ha Des!"

Another bright light shot out of the spirit's graveyard, and Dark Ruler appeared on Tristan's side of the field.

The spirit looked slightly surprised at the move. Tristan shrugged. "It's true, my monsters really ARE weak. So, it's better for me if I can steal away more powerful monsters from my opponents. But if there's one thing better than my opponents' monsters, it's monsters borrowed from FRIENDS!" He slapped down a monster card. "I summon Gearfried the Iron Knight!"

With a flash of sparks, a warrior emerged, garbed completely in black armor. "The story of Gearfried goes that he blocked up all of his potential because he was afraid to use it," said Tristan, taking out a card. "Well, no more! Witness Gearfried in his true form, as I play the magic card, Swordsman Released! I can remove one Gearfried the Iron Knight from play to special summon his alter ego from my hand or deck - The Master Swordsman!"

Gearfried was awash in blinding light, as the armor broke away to reveal a man, tanned, with flowing black hair. The Master Swordsman had many attributes, but the most outstanding was his humongous sword.

__

Whoa... To think, that actually worked. Joey, wherever you are... thanks.

"Next, I'll flip summon my face-down monster on the field!" The card flipped over to reveal the Magician of Faith. "Using the Magician's special ability, I can retrieve one magic card from my graveyard and add it to my hand. And I'll choose the ever-reliable magic card, Nobleman of Crossout!"

The Magician of Faith mystically retrieved the magic card from Tristan's graveyard and added it to his hand. "Now, I can activate the Nobleman of Crossout on your facedown monster card, removing it from play without activating any flip effects!" A man sporting metallic armor appeared, charged towards the spirit's facedown monster card, and slashed it in two with its blade.

__

Boo-ya! Thank you too, Tea!

Tristan took another deep breath. Whew, all this talking was wearing him out! In any case, Tristan knew that the spirit's field was now left wide open for a full-frontal attack to its lifepoints. And with Dark Ruler's 2460 attack power, Master Swordman's 2600, and the Magician's 300, that was enough to wipe out the rest of the spirit's lifepoints! The spirit probably knew this, too.

So why did it look so calm and collected?

Oboy... it could be because of that facedown m/t card on its side of the field. Yeah... But Tristan couldn't back down because of a possibility. And yet, Tristan still found himself hesitating to do what could be the finishing move. But it wasn't because of the spirit's facedown card - THAT he could handle. But could it be because... no. He had to do this.

One more deep breath.

"Now Dark Ruler, Master Swordsman and the Magician will attack your lifepoints DIRECTLY!" shouted Tristan. Dark Ruler Ha Des extended its hand to fire black lightning bolts. The Master Swordsman jumped up and brought down his sword with a mighty slash. The Magician of Faith raised her staff to expel a stream of mystical energy.

Then Tristan thought he saw the spirit reach for its facedown m/t card... but the resulting explosion from the attacks blocked his vision. His heart pounded heavily as he squinted his eyes, straining to see past the wafting smoke. Did the attacks go through?

A few seconds later, the smoke cleared, and Tristan could see across the field. The spirit was there, clutching its chest in pain. Its facedown m/t card was untouched.

Tristan had won.

Their shadowy surroundings begun to twist and contort until it faded away. Then he and the spirit were back in Bakura's living room again. Never before had Tristan been so happy to see things back to normal.

Then he looked over at the spirit nearby who was still possessing Bakura, by the looks of things. Huh, how fair is that? If Tristan had lost, HE'D been sent to the Shadow Realm to rot for all eternity. Yet the spirit lost, and it's still here. Figures. Then again, the spirit didn't actually say it WAS a SHADOW duel, per sé... Screw it, Shadow or no Shadow, it lost, and it's a damn shame it was still here.

But still...

"Are you all right?" he found himself asking the spirit. He received no reply.

"Say what you will or won't, but you still lost," said Tristan, stepping towards the spirit. "Now give Bakura's body... back..." Uh oh. The strain of playing a Shadow Duel... or whatever... has taken its toll. He felt his body shut down and lurch forward to fall. _Oh great ...What a way to make an impression by kissing the floor..._

Then something stopped his fall, and propped him up. His mind was too numb to really question what was going on. Then he caught sight of the olive-colored sweater and felt arms wrap around his back to keep him supported.

Then he felt cold fingers run slowly through his hair...

****

"All in due time," he heard the spirit say.

Tristan's eyes widened, then slowly closed shut.

Continued...

OIOIOIO

Thank you's:

****

Jaye-R Scarab: YO! I really appreciate you being such a kind and faithful reader so far... it's so incredibly inspiring! Yay, glad to hear that you agree that Tristan is an underappreciated character, even if he isn't your favorite! (grin) Also, yeah I figured that I should pass Kaiba off as calm, seeing that he doesn't know Tristan that well (_yet,_ meh heh heh), and the fact that he was at work, so he'd have a somewhat professional behavior. Thanks so much for everything, Jaye-R, means a lot to me!

****

MADJA; DUELLIST OF ROSES: What a cool name of yours! Thanks for the compliments, I'm trying to make it as meaningful as possible! (smile) As for Tristan's dog, wow I didn't know that her name was Jill! Cool! I did, however, know her name in the Japanese version, which was Blankey. And yeah, I heard that Jill was a she-dog too, but I was somewhat uncomfortable with calling her a "bitch." Hey, I don't hate her THAT much! (LoL!)

****

Peter Kim: Hm, I don't really know Tristan's deck much, but I THINK that he has a warrior/army-esque deck, from what I've seen. And hey, those ideas are quite interesting... Tell you what, I'll put both of those characters in future chapters, though it won't be in the exact manner you described. Keep a sharp outlook for em. And you have a point, Tristan would benefit from learning from Bakura's yami as well. Only time can tell if the spirit will help him or not. (hehehe!)

****

Nanashi Ni: Hey, you changed your name! It's the same in essence, tho! Oh, it's quite all right for missing the update, can't catch everything, you know. (heh!) Many thanks for the compliments too, huh? And look for more development between Tristan and Kaiba - they'll meet again!


	4. Unexpected Aid

Authors Notes: Ee-YEAH-UH! Chapter 4! And bluh, another long one! Warnings include more language and shonen-ai than usual, but hopefully not enough to sink anyone's battleships. And me no own Yu-Gi-Oh.

OIOIOIO

When Tristan awoke, he found himself draped unceremoniously on a worn out, but quite comfortable, couch. And with a whopping headache too, uughh... He forced himself to a sitting position on... hey, it IS Bakura's couch! Bakura must have put him there when he conked out. Conked out... now he remembered. That duel with the evil spirit, with all of that ... mystical-ish... stuff. It seemed so real - well, it sure as heck FELT real. He still had a bit of a bodily ache from when the spirit's monsters had blasted him.

That should scratch out the possibility that the whole spectacle was a dream, right?

Then he remembered the feel of the spirit's fingers in his hair, and shivered. What the hell was THAT all about? NOBODY touches the hair! But... but... why did he feel so comforted by the touch? Aw NO! HELL NO!

That's it. He had to leave. So much on his mind... he had to walk it off. But he couldn't just ditch Bakura like that...

"Tristan! Bout time you're up." Bakura walked over to the couch and sat next to him.

Bwuh oh.

Tristan replied instinctively. "Yeah..."

There was silence for a time, and Tristan took a better look at his companion. Bakura looked like his old self again. His voice was back to normal, the mascara was gone, and his hair wasn't as wild anymore. That meant the spirit was gone. For now.

"Hey, what time is it?" Tristan asked.

"Quarter to five. You must've been burnt out."

"Oh." Whoa. How long had he been out?

"There's still time to visit Jay's to get our cards. Want to go?"

Tristan hesitated. He didn't exactly feel like going at the moment. But how would he explain his reasons? _Uh, sorry Bakura, I'd love to, but I'm deathly afraid that the evil spirit that lives in that artifact of yours will kind of kill me in the middle of the trip._ Yeah, like that'll work. Oh, Bakura's still waiting for an answer.

Eh, why not.

"Sure. We'll take my bike."

Bakura's eyes lit up. "Great. I'll give you directions along the way."

And that was how Tristan found himself sitting on his motorcycle, steadying it for Bakura to settle on. Tristan insisted that Bakura borrow his helmet and textile jacket - after all, Tristan recently custom-built a sports bike from his standard one, and sports bikes were usually the more dangerous of styles.

Unfortunately, another downside to a sportsbike was the location of the seat. The seat was located at the rear-most portion of the bike, forcing both rider and passenger to lean forward in a slanted position. So feeling Bakura's full weight on him felt a little, well, different; not to mention the total closeness between them... Argh - focus, Taylor, focus!

Tristan turned to Bakura. "Just follow my movements, okay?" After Bakura nodded in response, Tristan revved up the engine, and pulled out into the road.

As the ride progressed, Tristan began to feel more comfortable with the seating predicament. Having Bakura sitting behind him balanced his position. It... didn't feel so bad... Whoa, gotta concentrate on the road, here!

Finally, they arrived at their destination, a speciality store simply dubbed: Jay's. They pulled into a parking space, and sauntered into the store. The place was quite large for its choice of stock; that being comic books, collectible toys and of course, card games. There were so many things available, that it was hard to figure where to start. Heh, good thing Bakura was here.

"Over here, Tristan!" said Bakura, near a glass-enclosed case.

"I further studied your deck during your little power nap," said Bakura, smiling as Tristan walked over. "You've mainly warrior-type monsters in your deck now. Adding more monster cards and magic/trap cards to supplement them would vastly improve it."

"Okay coach," said Tristan, rubbing his hands. "What kind of cards should I get?"

"I recommend that we buy packs of Duel Monster cards from a few of the recent series that were released, like Dark Crisis, Pharaonic Guardian and Legacy of Darkness. Those should have more of the warrior-accommodating cards you want."

Then Bakura gestured to the glass case behind him. The case displayed many single, rare Duel Monster cards. "And later, if we need any more cards to add to your deck, we can always buy them individually."

"Sounds good!" said Tristan.

After accumulating the suggested card packets, Tristan skipped over to the cashier, with Bakura following behind him, laughing. As they waited in line, Tristan noticed Bakura taking out a wallet.

"WHAT are you doing?" asked Tristan, with a mock-stern look.

"Well, it WAS my idea to get the cards, so it's only fair," replied Bakura with a lopsided smile.

"Don't be ridiculous. I can't be your mistress until the third date, at LEAST," said Tristan, pursing his lips.

Bakura chuckled, a little color in his cheeks. "Relax, Tristan. You can be my ho anyday."

Tristan's light-hearted expression was soon replaced with that of horror. "Oh crap, HIDE!" he said, pulling Bakura behind a bookcase.

"What's wrong?" asked Bakura.

"It's _him_," Tristan hissed. He pointed to a teen standing in the Dungeon Dice Monsters section.

"Hey..." said Bakura, looking at the said teen. "Isn't that Duke? Duke, uh..."

"DEVLIN," said Tristan, growling. "That jerk," he muttered.

"I take it you two get along," said Bakura, lowering his eyelids.

"Not EVEN. That bastard was making the moves on Serenity by stealing MY lines, copying MY technique, and giving her his number before ME... Gah-h-h, I _hate_ this guy!" Tristan clenched his fist.

"All right," Bakura said, rolling his eyes. "But why are we hiding?"

"To examine his secret life as a... thing," said Tristan. His eyes narrowed as they focused on Devlin.

"_We await here now, hidden beneath the brush of the safari, to examine the lifestyle of the specimen, Dukous Devlinium,_" whispered Bakura, mock-imitating a narrator. "So what now, chief - we going to get the nets and tranquilizers for him, too?"

Tristan laughed and turned back to Bakura with a devious grin. "Not a bad idea..."

Bakura stared ahead, looking surprised. "Hm, now we'll be needing a tracking device."

Tristan's cheerful visage faded into shared surprise. "Why's that? He's right in front of us."

"Not anymore. He's gone."

Tristan whipped his head around to find that Devlin was indeed gone. Aw, dammit, where did he -

"What's this, a hunting expedition?" said a voice behind them. It nearly made Tristan jump.

"What's it to you?" said Tristan, glaring at the owner of the voice.

Duke Devlin stood there with his usual stuck-up look. Cocky _bastard_.

"With the way you two are squatted in the corner, gabbin' about tranquilizers and such, well, I had the urge to discuss the secret hideouts of those pesky rhinos and elephants." Devlin smirked and crossed his arms. "Hello, Bakura."

Bakura smiled weakly. "Hey, Duke."

"So, Bakura, what's Monkey Boy doing here? Isn't he a little out of place?"

Before Tristan could retort, Bakura answered; "He's here prepping for a Duel Monster's Tournament."

"Him?" Devlin snorted. "Good luck."

Tristan bristled. "Look, you..." he said, growling. "Why don't we take this outside?"

Devlin's conceited expression slightly lifted into that of surprise. "Fine," he said, leading the way out of the store.

Tristan began to follow, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Tristan. Don't." Bakura had a dead serious look now.

Tristan grasped Bakura's hand, smiling. "Don't worry, it won't be anything major. And besides, THIS time we're not on a blimp that's hundreds of miles above the ground."

Bakura furrowed his brows. "What happened at the blimp?"

"Long story, I'll tell you later. Really, it's okay, I won't take long," said Tristan.

Bakura finally relented, and shrugged. With that, Tristan jogged after Devlin. Tristan grimaced as he ran. _Gr, that Devlin jerk has really got some nerve for..._

"Tell me, why are you entering this tournament?"

Tristan stopped still at Devlin's voice. He turned around to find the teen leaning on the wall next to the doors.

Tristan didn't answer. What kind of _dumbass_ question was that?

Devlin got up from the wall, and walked towards Tristan. "With your LOUSY dueling ability, I know you wouldn't get into that just for kicks. There must be some important motive behind it."

WHAT! Why that - where does he get OFF with that know-it-all bullshit? Tristan knew he should've told Devlin to take his questions and shove it. But somehow, he found himself answering it truthfully: "I want the prize money for some people."

Devlin smirked, to Tristan's chagrin.

"How generous of you."

"None of your business," said Tristan, narrowing his eyes to slits. "I hope that you signed up for the tournament too, because I can't wait to whup your ASS in it."

Devlin smirked still, and defiantly. "Fortunately for you, I've decided not to attend the tournament. I have other plans. Besides, I'd rather not stick around to to see YOU get tossed around by the competition."

Tristan forced down an urge to CLOBBER the simpering dirtbag. "Well, that's too bad. With Bakura's help, I'll be MORE than a match for you OR the competition. Who's a man of action' NOW, huh?"

"Hah, keep dreaming." Devlin closed his eyes, STILL smirking.

"If I'm dreaming, then this is a helluva _nightmare_," said Tristan. He shook his head. "I'm sorry I asked you out here. It's a waste of time for us BOTH." He turned around to go back into the store, suddenly feeling stupid.

"Wait, Tristan."

Tristan stopped. _Huh?_

"You'll be needing ACTUAL GOOD cards for the Tournament." In a flash, Devlin had some Duel Monster cards in his hand. He held them out. "Take them."

Tristan stared at the cards, then at Devlin. He didn't know WHAT to think or do. An appropriate response would have been to scoff at the offer and walk away. But instead, Tristan stood there, silently.

"What's the matter, Tristan? A little dumbfounded, emphasis on DUMB?"

Tristan glowered. "Zip it, Dice Boy." He settled on peeping at the cards in Devlin's hand. Upon viewing them, he raised his eyebrows in thought. "Gambling-type cards?" he asked, facing the other teen. "Isn't that more of JOEY'S niche?"

Devlin shrugged. "Gambling-type cards can often be the quickest way to get you out messy situations. Knowing you, you'll be getting into MANY."

"Yeah, if gambling won't get me INTO those messy situations. Risk-taking AIN'T my style," said Tristan, folding his arms.

"Sometimes taking risks is the only way to further yourself," Devlin replied, matter-of-factly. He held out the cards to Tristan in second offering.

Tristan gazed at the cards once again. After a second or two of hesitation, he slowly reached out and took them. Then he sniffed it, ignoring Devlin's quizzical look. _Hm, it's not sprayed with cat piss after all..._ Tristan had to admit, upon further inspection, that these were very good cards. But, he was still suspicious about those few gamble-cards...

Tristan looked up. "Uh... thanks?"

Then, to Tristan's surprise, Devlin smiled. SMILED, not smirked. _Gee, he has a nice smile when he's not sneering like a sniveling jackass..._ Suddenly Tristan DIDN'T feel a need to re-arrange Devlin's face.

After showing an oh-so-lovely smile, Devlin ended the conversation by turning and walking off. As he did, Tristan remembered something. "Hey!" he called out. "That gamble-card of yours needs DICE to work! Where can I ge-"

He was cut off when a six-sided die clocked him in the forehead.

"OW! Son of a-" said Tristan, scowling.

Devlin's fading laughter was his only response.

"Rassum frassum..." Tristan mumbled. Scratch that earlier thought. Come school year, Devlin's face is LUNCHMEAT.

Shaking off those thoughts, Tristan crouched down to pick up the die. Then he put the cards and die in his left pocket, and walked to the front doors. As he pulled open the store door, Bakura was standing right there, his hand raised. By the looks of things, he'd been fixing to open the door, too.

"Tristan! Hi," said Bakura, a little nervously. "You all right?"

"Yup." Then Tristan grinned. "Coming to my rescue, huh?" he asked, ruffling Bakura's hair.

Bakura laughed, ducking his head. "Well, can't have your bum pounded on MY watch," he replied, grinning in return.

Tristan smiled. "Thanks. So... shall we pick up where we left off?"

"On deciding who gets to pay for the card packs?" Bakura crossed his arms, good-naturedly. "By the way, you realize you could have been busted for bringing the packs outside."

Oy vey. Tristan had forgotten that he had put the card packs in his right pocket when he followed Devlin out of the store. "Whoops," he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Anyway..." said Tristan. Suddenly, he raced towards the cashier section. "First one to the cashier PAYS for the packs!" he crowed over his shoulder.

"Hey!" cried Bakura. He frantically chased after Tristan. "No fair!"

OIOIOIO

By the time Bakura and Tristan arrived at the former's residence, it was already past ten at night. Tristan pulled into the guest's parking stall, and stopped to let Bakura get off the motorcycle.

"Whoo-hoo!" Bakura shouted, jumping off the bike. "That was awesome! Thanks for today, huh!"

Tristan grinned at Bakura's burst of hyperness. "Eh, I should be thanking you," he admitted. Really, he owed a lot to Bakura. Because of him, Tristan had better cards, better strategies, and best of all, a better chance of winning the Tournament money. And THAT meant that the Cabezas could stay in business! Tristan smiled. Things didn't seem so hopeless after all.

"Well..." said Tristan, turning back to Bakura. "I better head home before my folks give me the third degree." He playfully knocked at the helmet on Bakura's head, silently requesting it. Bakura took it off, and handed it to Tristan, rather somberly.

"Actually, Tristan, it's late. Why not, you know, spend the night? Then you won't have to bother your parents..." he said, trailing off.

Spend... the night? With Bakura? _That would be nice..._ Tristan felt his face heat up at that. Then he suddenly froze. Spending the night possibly meant spending quality time with the THING inside Bakura's... Millennium Ring. In that case, he wasn't sure if he could exactly _spend_ the night if he couldn't _survive_ it.

Then again, Tristan's house was a long way away... and he could spend time with Bakura... And he WAS invited... Did he mention he could hang with Bakura?

Eventually, Tristan decided that some things mattered more than paranoia of evil spirits.

OIOIOIO

Once they were inside Bakura's apartment, Tristan made a quick call to his parents before being ushered through a shower and borrowed clothes. When it was Bakura's turn to shower, Tristan decided to relax on the livingroom couch. After settling down, he looked around the room casually. Now that he had time to better observe his surroundings, he found that Bakura took good care of his apartment, despite living alone.

Now that he thought about it, Tristan always did think it was weird that Bakura didn't stay with other parents in the foreign-enchange program. Ah, maybe Brits can well take care of themselves. Or does Bakura live alone because of the Millennium Ring...

Argh, Tristan couldn't get the Ring, specifically the evil spirit, out of his head! Questions regarding the spirit swirled in Tristan's head: WHO was it? WHERE did it come from? WHAT are its motives? WHY is it doing this?

__

Why me?

Tristan could find no answers. Sighing, he put his arms behind his head, and leaned back into the couch.

"BOO!"

"GAH!" Tristan jerked up.

"Heh, heh, heh..." Bakura joined him on the couch. "You've a lot on your mind, don't you?"

"Ha, yeah... just got the Tournament jitters, I guess," said Tristan, smiling. Heh, man, Bakura could be a friggin' NINJA, he's so sneaky...

Bakura patted Tristan on the back. "Not to worry, with me, you'll be so good that it'll no longer be an issue." Bakura paused. "Say, you up for a couple more games tonight? It'll be good practice."

"Sure! And THIS time, I got things right with my new deck!" said Tristan, beaming.

Bakura smiled skeptically. "We'll see."

After a few Duel Monster games, the two boys decided to pack it in and hit the sack. Tristan took the couch and found it to be very comfortable... Whoa, deja vu - lying in the very same couch as he did when he woke up from that tricked-out Shadow Duel. Hum, life and... its... funny... ironies... z-z-z...

OIOIOIO

__

Oh no. Not this place again.

Tristan found himself in familiar surroundings: a dark, empty void, murky with fog. Well, it would've been more familiar if a certain evil spirit were present. Whew, good thing it wasn't here... who knows what would happen if -

****

"Welcome back," said a harsh and all-too familiar voice. Tristan heard it right by his ear. He spun around to face... well, speak of the devil.

"What, here to settle unfinished business!" yelled Tristan. He struggled to control the quake in his voice.

The evil spirit only smirked in response. Tristan just noticed that just how close it was, as it reached out and trailed its fingers down his cheeks. He shivered at contact. What...

****

"Are you afraid?" it smugly asked.

"Nuh... no." He couldn't be afraid. No way! But... why was he shaking? Why did his voice quake? And... why has he avoided Bakura all this time until now? No...

"D-don't kid yourself. I'm not afraid of you..." said Tristan. He clenched his fists, then his eyes, knowing that he really was.

The spirit lowered its eyelids and calmly smiled, too calm for Tristan's liking. **"Then prove it. Wake up."**

Huh?

OIOIOIO

Tristan's eyes popped open. In the dark, he could see moonlight framing the silhouette of the couch. He found himself lying on the cushions in an awkward position, with a leg over the backrest, and his head cocked to the side. Trying to fix his position, he turned his head.

And met another face grinning down at him.

****

"Boo."

Tristan's breath hitched. "It's YOU!" he cried. He bolted over the couch, placing it between him and the evil spirit.

Argh, talk about waking up from a nightmare to another one!

The spirit sneered as it slowly circled the living room to turn on a nearby lamp. Then it walked to the table, and began arranging what appeared to be Duel Monster cards. Tristan watched as it shuffled and moved the cards until there were three isolated ones, turned over from view.

Curiosity overcame Tristan's better judgment, and he hesitantly joined the spirit at the table.

"What are you doing?" he asked, peeping over the spirit's shoulder.

It didn't even bother to turn its head. **"Bakura has often wondered about you... What you're like. But he's polite enough to keep his questions to himself. I, however, have no such contentions."**

It finally faced Tristan, who flinched at the sudden attention. **"Ever wondered about yourself, Tristan?"**

"Yeah, sure," he replied. _Like if I'm capable of lasting the night, for starters..._

****

"Then you won't mind if I examine your soul with these cards." The spirit flipped over the first of the three turned cards. It was the trap card, _Reinforcements_. Pictured was an army of armor-clad soldiers.

****

"Hm," The spirit seemed amused. **"This card reveals that you live to support others. Your family. Your friends. Even former employers."**

"What! How..." Tristan was shocked. The spirit was talking about Mr. and Mrs. Cabeza! How did he - er, it - know?

It continued on to flip the second card. A monster card. When Tristan saw its picture, he couldn't help but grin in amusement. "So what - I'm some kind of kung-fu guy with an enormous fro?"

****

"Why, yes - like you, Karate Man is weak and usually useless. And when Karate Man actually is effective enough, he'll only destroy himself in the end."

Tristan felt a wave of inadequacy wash over him. What good _had_ he been this whole time with his friends, or _ever_, in fact? How could he help anyone if he was so useless?

****

"Perhaps it's best if you don't help at all."

Say what! But

The spirit flipped over the final card. Another trap card, and it had a picture of a woman tormented by ghostly entities (1). **"Interesting. You resemble the trap card, _Bad Reaction to Simochi_. This card makes opponents lose the lifepoints they try to gain. It seems that when others try to help themselves, you step in to unknowingly make it worse."**

__

It couldn't be... Tristan fixed his gaze to the floor. No matter how hard he tried to help, he'd only make things worse?

__

Wait a sec...

"I may not know much," said Tristan. "But even _I_ know that it's better trying to help than not try at all."

****

"It is said that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Suppose you help others by not helping."

"Whu - But - STOP CONFUSING ME!" said Tristan, shaking his head. "Look, all I know is that if my friends thought the same way, they would have never attempted to give me that cards that HELPED me whup YOUR butt in that quasi-Shadow Duel." He smiled in self-satisfaction, crossing his arms.

The spirit seemed to smile in amusement. **"Then perhaps you can only be of use when others help you."**

Tristan turned his face, looking away. "Whatever, if I means I can be of service..." he said, trailing off.

Tristan heard the spirit laugh, softly. **"What would you say if I told you I would help you?"**

Tristan froze at this, the idea overwhelming him. The spirit - the EVIL spirit, who had sucked out the very souls of him and his friends in a previous Shadow Duel, and had done even worse things than that - HELPING him?

Tristan shook off his thoughts. "Bakura's already taught me all the moves I need. There's no use in teaching me further at his expense," he said, looking back at the spirit.

The spirit cocked its head slightly. **"It won't be longer than necessary. I do take precautions for my host."**

Tristan felt himself bristle at the word host.' Bakura... having to co-exist with that _parasite_... And as IF that thing looked after Bakura, after all it's put him through. Then again, Tristan remembered that the spirit took the full brunt of Slifer's blast for Bakura after that Malik creep made them switch places. Maybe the spirit really DID look after Bakura, somewhat. And Tristan had to begrudgingly admit that the spirit has saved HIM on numerable occasions... But...

"Why?" asked Tristan. "Why help me, what use would it be to you? I mean, especially since our last meeting, where I blindsided you and everything..." Tristan winced, knowing he shouldn't have mentioned that.

The spirit merely smirked. **"Maybe I'm not as bad as you think."**

Tristan pursed his lip in thought. Seriously, is THAT the real reason? That the spirit just happens to be a nice guy? Naw, it had to be a trick, a ruse, something. And besides...

"I thought you said helping people made things worse for them."

****

"You're right," said the spirit, slyly. **"But I'll leave that for you to decide. The choice is yours."**

So he had a CHOICE, then. Tristan thought it over. No matter what choice he made, the spirit would still possess Bakura, all the same. But Tristan could keep an eye on the spirit if he was around it... learn more about it. Tristan finally made his decision, and nodded.

"Let's do it."

OIOIOIO

The Lesson' of sorts began with Tristan's deck. The spirit sorted through his cards, discarding some of them, before handing the deck back to Tristan. The spirit claimed that Tristan should keep his cards to a bare minimum to have the maximum effect.

"Geez... at least let me keep the rest of the cards for my sidedeck, or something," said Tristan, nursing the rejected cards. Then Tristan paused, remembering something. "Oh yeah... Dammit, Kaiba eliminated the sidedecks for the Tournament!" he exclaimed, slapping his forehead.

The spirit looked mildly irritated. **"There are limitations?"**

"HELL yeah," said Tristan, sharing the frustration. "Pair that up with the Forbidden and Limited Cards' list. Monster Reborn, Dark Hole, Fiber Jar, United we Stand, Yata-Garasu, Graceful Charity, Imperial Order, Witch of the Black Forest, Harpy's Feather Duster and Raigeki - ALL of them, BANNED from the Tournament (2). That's why some those cards aren't in my deck anymore." Tristan sighed. "Sucks, huh?"

****

"It's a challenge, then. All the better."

"Guess so..." Tristan found himself beginning to relax in the spirit's presence. Gee, the situation didn't seem so bad. It seemed like he and the spirit were even on friendly terms. Unbelievable.

****

"Well, now. Shall the games commence?" The spirit mysteriously conjured a deck in its hand.

Tristan gulped. "Uh... can it be a NICE duel? You know, without all of the magical stuff?" He grinned nervously.

The spirit laughed, amused. **"As you like."**

OIOIOIO

The following duels were... _interesting_ to say the least. Boy, the spirit could be so damn _pushy_...

"How long do I have to WAIT?" exclaimed Tristan. "C'mon, let me DESTROY that sucker of a trap card!"

****

"Don't." The spirit was remarkably patient. The argument had been going on for some time.

"But if you keep gaining lifepoints with the trap card, I won't be able to beat you -"

****

"It is NOT of importance. Save your _Mystical Space Typhoon_ for other cards."

"Like WHAT?" asked Tristan, his nerves frazzled.

****

"Like this. I activate the magic card, _Snatch Steal_." The spirit laid the card on the table. **"I can equip this card to your _Dark Blade_ monster, and take full control of it. Then I can sacrifice it to tribute summon my _Great Maju of Garzett_. With your field now completely empty, I can attack you directly, and end this duel."** The spirit put an elbow on the table and rested a chin on its hand. **"That is, unless you have other plans."**

"Er..." said Tristan. He drummed his fingers on his cards. "I'll, heh, activate my Mystical Space Typhoon card to destroy your Snatch Steal?"

****

"Smart move." The spirit discarded the Snatch Steal card to its graveyard pile on the tabletop. **"Your turn,"** it said.

Tristan yawned. "All right..." he said, stretching. He happened to glance at a clock, which read half-past three in the morning. Uh oh. "Hey, does Bakura have anything in the morning? It's really late," said Tristan, concerned.

The spirit smirked. **"Bakura has no such arrangements. Do you want to continue the duel?"**

"Eh, I think I'll forfeit. We present-day humans' need our sleep, you know?" said Tristan, rubbing his eyes.

****

"Very well." The spirit stood from its chair and strode towards Bakura's bedroom. _Probably to put Bakura's body to bed,_ thought Tristan, bemusedly.

"Hey, wait up," said Tristan, softly.

The spirit stopped and turned, silently.

"I, uh, am much obliged for your help," said Tristan, looking at the floor. "I don't exactly know your reasons, but... thanks anyway."

Then he heard the spirit's suppressed laughter.

****

"You're welcome..."

When Tristan finally looked up, the spirit had already disappeared into Bakura's room. A few minutes later, Tristan snuck in to find Bakura spread on his bed, sound asleep. _And without the covers,_ thought Tristan, rolling his eyes. He lifted the blankets from one end of the bed, and folded them over Bakura. _There..._

Then Tristan lumbered over to the livingroom couch, and collapsed on it, uttering a curt "Oomph!" on impact.

Tristan put his hands behind his head in thought. What a night... Who'd believe that an ancient, evil spirit would give him pointers on Duel Monsters? Well, maybe it wasn't THAT evil... maybe just misunderstood. Certainly, Tristan could relate. And besides, an evil spirit wouldn't help someone for seemingly NO personal gain whatsoever...

Or would it?

The spirit said that helping someone could make things even worse. What'd that MEAN, anyway? Did it mean that there could be a sinister agenda hidden beneath the spirit's helpful facade? Wait a minute, if THAT were the case, why would the spirit even mention such a thing?

As hard as he tried, Tristan found that tonight, sleep would come sooner than answers ever would.

Continued...

OIOIOIO

Afterthoughts: Hey cool, you made it! I dunno if even I could last that long... my attention span is so... Ooh, COOKIES!

(1) Bad Reaction to Simochi: The picture is more of a woman tormented by ghostly HANDS than ghostly entities. Seriously, that picture's perverted! Um, yeah, just wanted to share that...

(2) In real-life Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments, there's an actual list of Banned and Limited cards. Last time I checked the website for the list, there were NO banned cards at ALL this time - I think they're talking about the less advanced rules or something. Huh, well I made a Banned List just to make things harder for Tristan. Bwa ha ha!

Thank You's:

****

Madja - Duellist of the Roses: Yo, I'm so happy... (cries) THANK YOU for adding me to your fav author's list! I'm truly honored. Eh, don't worry about Tristan's dog... I actually should have stuck with "Jill," seeing that I'm using the American Dub names, after all. Finally, I THINK it's possible to run a hand through someone's hair... or is it threading... or combing... Argh! My brain!

****

Peter Kim: You nailed things right on the head - glad you caught all the details! True, if Kaiba or Yami Bakura entered this duel, Tristan wouldn't have much chance of winning - that's why NEITHER of them will participate! You'll see why later (grin). Dude, you've got some great ideas going on here - but I can't use them because I'll spoil the ending! Weevil and Rex, huh? Maybe... I love them guys! Also, yeah, I heard about the GX series, and saw a smidgen of it via internet. Interesting theory about Judai, by the way... I heard this other rumor that Judai's school could be run by Kaiba because of the student rankings: Blue (Obelisk) for top-notch students, and Red (Slifer) for the rookies? Hm...

****

Nanashi Ni: Yay, Cheerleader Nanashi! Thank you for such kind words, I aim to please! (bows) And... wait a sec, you admire me? No, no, no, my head... can't... take it! Quick, switch the nouns around! Now ME admire YOU! Yes, yes, better! Seriously, I love your work. Gotta pay homage to an awesome writer, here! (nods)

****

Valon's Princess: Thanks so much for your review! After hearing such wonderful comments, I feel, well, kinda invincible! (poses) Hehe. Glad to hear you're feeling better. I think all writers will face criticism of their work someday or another (raises hand). And I wuv money too - dammit, who DOESN'T love them Benjamins? And Chocolate, can't forget the Chocolate!

OIOIOIO

Coming up: "The Tournament Cometh!" OR "Tristan, Scared Shitless!"

See you soon!


	5. The Tournament COMETH: Round One

**An Unlikely Duelist, Chp. 5**

Author's Notes: Hello, everyone! To make up for any lack of update for more than five months, this chapter is INSANELY long. Or is that my short attention span talking again, lol! As usual, there's warnings of shonen-ai and swearing, but _hardly, hardly _any in this chapter. Today, the focus is on dueling. And Tristan getting a butt whuppin', heh! To my pal, Nanashi… (shakes her hand) consider the deal delivered. (grin)

Hey reviewers and readers, I gotta say THANK YOU! Because of you, I have the material to write this chapter, and I've even stolen an idea or two from you guys! (Today's idea is from Peter Kim! Thanks, man! Thanks also to Von Stupor for the suggestions that helped me greatly! You ALL rock!).

Disclaimer: WHAT? I don't own rights to Yu-Gi-Oh? OR _Kung Fu_? NO-O-O!

And now, without further delay... Chapter Five!

OIOIOIO

Daybreak, days later, at the Taylor residence.

As Tristan Taylor opened the garage door, sunlight spilled forth into the garage, exposing it to the full glory of the early morning; the sunrise was gorgeous with its colors of pink, orange and gold; mingling birdsongs accompanied the view along with the cool, refreshing breeze.

And Tristan hated ALL of it. Mornings just didn't cut it for him, _especially_ if it was a _Saturday_ morning. But today, he had an incentive to be up at such an ungodly hour:

The day of the _Tournament_ had arrived, much to Tristan's dismay.

And so, being a contestant and such, Tristan had to sign in early. Plus, he had to pick up Bakura, too. Tristan was immensely relieved that Bakura was coming with him, at least as a spectator. With Bakura, Tristan felt better. More confident. Confident enough to think he'd actually _win_ the whole tournament! Or not... _Oh, okay... _he thought, smacking a fist into his palm._ …Confident enough to win a round! Yeah, there we go!_

His conviction somewhat restored, Tristan pulled out of the garage on his bike and headed for Bakura's apartment.

OIOIOIO

Once Tristan met up with Bakura, the two teens set off for the _KaibaCorp Dueling Arena_, aka... _Kaiba Land_. When Tristan and Bakura arrived there, there were already signs of activity, despite the early morning hours. The grand, sweeping complex stretched far across the area, with people scurrying about to get the vicinity ready for the tournament. Many people were climbing the stairs to the entrance, probably contestants checking in.

"I think I see other contestants over there," said Tristan, nodding at said people. He parked the motorcycle, and got off with Bakura to plant the kickstand.

Bakura took off his helmet. "Then shall we follow their lead?"

"Yeah, we'd better. I bet you can get lost for hours in that place!"

As they walked toward the complex, they admired the design of the place; the multi-storied building had blue-tinted windows, while the roofing spread out into a peculiar fan-like shape. A steep stairway began at the base of the building, with a huge dragon sculpture in the center. And on the roofing, displayed most prominently, were the words, _Kaiba Land_.

"I dunno (huff) how Kaiba can (huff) call this place 'Kaiba Land' with a straight face," said Tristan, climbing the stairway with Bakura. _Why the HECK does Kaiba even have this damn stairway_, thought Tristan, sullenly. _And where are the escalators!_

Bakura, meanwhile, seemed to have little problem with the stairs. "Bet you the name has a certain appeal to kids; Disneyland, Kaiba Land... If you want to make a profit, you better invest in the kids."

"Huh, never thought of (huff) that." Then Tristan groaned. "Great, now I (huff) have to look forward to having my backside (huff) handed to me by a buncha _kids_ in this tournament."

Bakura laughed. "Don't worry, I'm sure the little rugrats will give you a chance."

Tristan nodded. He could only_ hope_.

Once the two finished the stairway, they walked through the front doors into the Entry Area. Upon entering, Tristan could only stare at the fantastic scenery. It was immensely spacious, with blue-tiled flooring and high-rising walls. Numerous escalators criss-crossed the various levels in the vast vicinity (the elevators, in Tristan's opinion, should've been placed outside with the stairs). Meanwhile, lifelike statues of Duel Monsters were placed artfully throughout the area, and the crowning adornment was a HUGE Blue Eyes White Dragon statue that was suspended from the ceiling.

Bakura scanned the place sedately. "I'll say this for Kaiba -- at least he has an eye for interior design," he said, cracking a grin.

Tristan laughed in reply as they walked to the sign-in tables, which, as he just then noticed, were alphabetically organized. Furthermore, there was a LONG line stretching away from their sign-in table, causing Tristan to balk at the rather large number of contestants present.

"Eeg, this place is PACKED!" Tristan exclaimed, turning to Bakura.

"I'm not surprised; it's estimated that over 500 contestants are signed up," Bakura replied. "This tournament is regional and has one of the biggest cash prizes yet. I'm sure attendance will be higher than usual."

Tristan's eyes widened. "Dang." _So much for any possible chance at victory._

Bakura patted Tristan's shoulder. "Don't let it get to you. You'll be all right."

"Yeah..." said Tristan, a little nervously. "But I'm not lookin' forward to getting _creamed_ by competitors for however so many games straight," he said, faking a grin.

Bakura looked surprised. "You have such little confidence in yourself," he said. "In fact, you remind me of a certain duel monster. I forgot its name though, it's called... 'Something, the Iron Knight.'"

Tristan looked up with a thoughtful expression. "Gearfried the Iron Knight?" he suggested.

"That's it," said Bakura. "The legend tells that he sealed himself in armor to restrain his full ability. You're holding yourself back with your doubt, Tristan."

Tristan sighed inwardly, knowing he'd heard _that_ song before. "Sure, but at least Gearfried had some talent to begin with," he replied, not meaning for it to sound as bitter as it did.

Bakura gazed at him with a rather despotic look. "Ah, but you forget that in order for Gearfried to become the Swordmaster (1), he _always_ has to begin in his _weakened_ state. That way, he has the opportunity to improve."

Tristan looked up at Bakura in a mixture of gloom and amusement. "But Gearfried can only become the Swordmaster when certain conditions are met. Let's say Gearfried needed to transform at THAT moment, when the game was most critical. What if he couldn't? What if he, y'know, never gets _better_?"

Bakura shrugged. "Then, to paraphrase Roosevelt, it's better to experience failure than nothing at all. It won't be the end of the world if you lose, Tristan." Then Bakura looked at Tristan's forlorn expression. "Or maybe it will. Whatever's on your mind, just know that there will be other opportunities out there if you look for them."

Tristan smiled reflectively. "Yeah, that sounds right..." he said. Suddenly he felt better again. A _helluva_ lot better, in Tristan's opinion. _Good ol' Bakura_, thought Tristan. Misty-eyed, he decided to repay his friend with a full-blown noogie. "Thank you, buddy! NOOGIES!" he hollered, digging a fist into Bakura's head.

"ARGH!" Bakura scrambled out of the way with a scowl. "I deliver an inspirational speech, and THIS is what I get?" He rubbed his now messy and tangled hair.

Tristan's forehead scrunched in worry. "Aw, Bakura, I'm sorry," he whispered. He instinctively reached out to gently smooth down Bakura's hair. Then, realizing the magnitude of his actions, he pulled back, uttering a small "Meep!" in the process. "Er, sorry about... that... too," said Tristan, laughing nervously.

Bakura didn't seem to mind that sudden invasion of his space. He thumbed at the now available sign-in table. "It's... our turn," he said, bowing his head.

"Oh, already?" _Well that was fast_, thought Tristan. Then again, the time always didpass quicker whenever Bakura was around...

OIOIOIO

After signing in, Bakura and Tristan headed for the contestant's lounge for a quick meeting, mostly as a refresher for rules and conduct. Once that was done, there was little more to do than wait for the Tournament to start. And a bit more than an hour later (not nearly long enough for Tristan), it was time to go to the opening ceremony. Reluctantly, Tristan strolled down with Bakura to the Dueling Arena.

"Hey, uh... I forgot to say, I... really appreciate the support," said Tristan, turning to Bakura.

"Not a problem," Bakura replied. "Besides, someone's gotta watch your back, you know?" he said, sideglancing Tristan with a smile.

Tristan returned the smile as he opened the back doors for the main arena. "Yeah, good thing you came, I'd be so screwed if you weren't... here... to..."

_DEAR. LORD._

Tristan's eyes bulged when he saw the arena. Large as the arena was, it was JAM-PACKED with spectators. Numerous T.V. cameras dotted the arena to film the event -- or rather, his humiliating defeat. Tristan cringed at the thought: _Hundreds, no, THOUSANDS of people will bear witness to my utter SUCKINESS._

_I can't do this._

Tristan glued himself to the spot, stunned. Bakura noticed this and pushed him further into the arena. "Don't let the crowd intimidate you, Tristan. Just focus on the duel, and you'll do fine."

Tristan looked back at Bakura, puppy-eyed. "But, the T.V. cameras..."

"...Will be filming other duels, not just yours," said Bakura, cutting in. "Okay, some last minute tips: if you want to destroy an opponent's facedown m/t card, try to do it the instant they set it, but don't jump the gun too often. Also, make sure you don't fill up your Spell and Trap Zone with continuous m/t cards." Bakura finally pushed Tristan to his designated dueling machine. "Well, we're here. I better go. I'll be in the CC section."

"Cool, thanks Bakura," said Tristan, nodding. He clasped his hands, trying to quit his nervous shaking.

Suddenly, Bakura grabbed a handful of Tristan's shirt, pulling him down. "Just relax, Tristan, all right?" he murmured, close to Tristan's ear. Then he roughly shoved Tristan back. "Now kick some ass, grasshoppah!"

Tristan grinned giddily. "You can count on me, Mastah!" he said, bowing.

A rather young voice on the speakerphones interrupted them: _"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Second Annual Duel Monster's Regional Tournament!" _

Hearing the announcement, Bakura quickly departed the arena, giving a quick 'thumbs-up' to Tristan. With Bakura leaving, Tristan felt like he was stranded on an abandoned isle, with his only lifeboat floating away at sea (2).

Again, the speaker-phoned voice interrupted: _"Duelists from many occupations have gathered here to meet strategy with strategy and skill with skill to determine the cream of the crop in Duel Monsters. Best of luck to them all!"_

Tristan looked up at the source of the voice to find that the speaker was none other than Mokuba Kaiba! To Tristan, it was good to see that the little guy was doing fine, despite the crud he'd been through lately. Mokuba stood on a grand stage set in the middle of the arena.

_"Roughly explaining the rules, contestants will playing in Swiss Format,"_ said Mokuba, continuing. _"Each duelist will face randomly selected opponents, and win or lose, each contestant may play each round through. However only eight players with the best records overall may advance into the final rounds, which are then single elimination, or Sudden Death (3). Also, each duelist should remember that they are playing for keeps -- the victor has rights to the loser's rarest card."_

Tristan gulped at that last statement. He'd forgotten about that last detail, as some of the cards in his deck WEREN'T his to begin with...

_"That does it for the guidelines. There's just one detail before the duels kick off..."_ said Mokuba.

A faint rumbling sound compelled Tristan to look up skyward, yes _skyward_, as there was no roofing for the "arena!" As a jet roared high overhead, Tristan was greeted with the spectacle of somebody free-falling, then parachuting down into the arena. Squinting his eyes, Tristan realized that somebody was Kaiba! Then, still up at a far distance in the air, Kaiba unbuckled his parachute and dropped gracefully to the floor (4).

Tristan could only look in disbelief. Then he shook his head. Sure, that was a little flamboyant for his tastes, but Kaiba was probably doing that for the kids. Plus, Tristan had to admit that the stunt actually looked kinda neat. Sorta.

_"Welcome,"_ said Kaiba, as his abandoned parachute floated down from behind. _"As announced, there have been changes to Tournament plans."_

(_Hm_, thought Tristan, _Kaiba must've activated a microphone attached to his clothes or something._)

_"Previously, the Battle City Tournament was hosted out in open territory. This tournament will now be confined here, in commemoration of the grand opening of the Dueling Arena. As always, the contestants will duel, besting opponents to determine the next champion of Duel Monsters."_

Kaiba straightened his clothes and strode to the stage. _"The first round of the Tournament will commence. Contestants will now ascend the dueling mechanisms to launch the match."_

_Whoop, that's my cue!_ Tristan mounted the stand, flipped some switches and was promptly lifted to the top of the dueling machine. _Whee!_ thought Tristan, having a little TOO much fun with the experience. Once the movement stopped, Tristan turned around to look back at Kaiba.

**_"It's time to duel - let the games begin!"_** he shouted. And the crowd cheered wildly.

Just then, a shadow crept up over the floor of the stadium, as a ceiling

of sorts extended slowly from the upper side of the stadium and worked its way over until it covered the whole domain. _Okay, NOW it's starting to look like an arena..._ thought Tristan. Then, abruptly, bright lights then flashed on from different locations, and suddenly everything seemed a little more INTIMIDATING. Tristan gritted his teeth. _Damn Kaiba and his super-cool technology..._

"... Oh man..." said Tristan, hunching over. The whole spectacle was starting to have its effect on him, and he had a serious need to _hurl_ in nervousness. Things were different then; at least he had dueled with partners, or had his friends to watch over him. Without Tea, Yugi, Joey... even Bakura felt far away at the moment. He was on his own now. All alone.

_Wait. Not alone, _he thought. _The Magician of Faith. Master Swordsman. Sangan. Slate Warrior. Hell, even the Dice Jar and Morphing Jar are with me! If my friends aren't there in physical proximity, then they're here in spirit! _

_In that dingus Heart of the Cards!_

Tristan exhaled, feeling a little better. Besides, he knew he had to remember his reason for being there. At that, Tristan turned around to face his opponent. _Hm, a woman, blonde._ From the far distance, it was hard to tell much else about his opponent's appearance.

Amid the noise from the crowd, he heard a voice call out to him:

"_Tristan?_ Is that you in there?"

_Huh?_ Curious, Tristan looked around for the source of the voice. Then he realized it came from the speakerphones on his dueling console. It must be the voice of his opponent! Tristan always did wonder how duelists could hear each other talk from such a far distance...

_Wait a minute, WHAT the!_ To Tristan, that voice sounded familiar...

"MAI? Mai VALENTINE?" Tristan cried, looking closely at his opponent.

"The one and only," said the woman. From a distance, Tristan saw her toss her hair in haughtiness.

Tristan grinned in reminiscence. _Mai Valentine, ah the memories: her skill, her vanity, her nerves of steel... It's certainly been a while_, he thought. And now, facing her in a match out of all the duelists here... Tristan didn't know whether to be restless or relieved at that. Still, it was good to see her. "So Mai, what brings you here?" he asked, smiling at her.

From a distance, he saw her cross her arms. "What else? For the challenge... and the cash prize, of course," she said in cheerful sarcasm.

Tristan had to laugh. "Looks like some things never change."

"Really now? Seeing you _duel_ is a change of pace for me."

Tristan shrugged. "Duty calls," he replied, simply.

"Oh? Following in Yugi and Joey's footsteps, are we?"

Tristan froze at that remark. He knew he shouldn't let his insecurity get the better of him, but... Was that what he was - some watered-down coke in his soda-fountain of friends? "Yeah... I guess I am," Tristan replied, staring at the dueling console.

"Hmph. Tristan, get OVER yourself. Now** let's duel.**"

Tristan straightened with a start. "Yes ma'am."

The two duelists inserted their dueling decks into the machine, which promptly made unnerving spectacle, humming loudly as it brightly lit up. Looking at his console, Tristan was notified that Mai would take the first turn. At that, Tristan drew his five cards from his deck, and waited for Mai to make her move. _Hey, going second's not so bad_, thought Tristan. _Bakura said that you could make the best of going either first OR second..._

Then Tristan saw Mai place a card down on her console. "Watch closely, rookie. I summon Cyber Harpie Lady in attack mode." With flashing sparks, there appeared a strange hybrid of a woman and bird. It sported purple armor and carried a whip in its hand.

_Whoa._ Tristan had to admit, Kaiba's technology looked state of the ART. The virtual simulation made Tristan almost swear the Harpie would actually swoop down to kick his ass!

"Now I activate the field magic card, Harpies' Hunting Ground," said Mai, setting down another card. Suddenly, the dueling field shifted and changed form, as it became dry and rocky earth. Dust even seemed to blow harshly around this new, virtual terrain.

"As long as this card's in play, all Winged Beast-Monsters on the field increase their attack and defense by 200 points. Not only that, but each time a Harpie Lady is summoned, I get to destroy a trap or spell card on the field."

Then Tristan saw Mai put down another card. "Finally, I'll set an m/t card on the field and end my turn," she said.

It was now Tristan's turn as he sucked in a deep breath. This was it! He looked at his hand of cards and frowned. To Tristan, that had to be the crappiest hand in all of Duel Monsters! In his hand was an Assault on Goblin HQ, a Mage Power, a Gorg the Strong, a Reversal Quiz and a Master Swordsman. And he couldn't use any of them in the duel yet! _Crud._

Tristan gazed thoughtfully at the Master Swordsman card in his hand. Bakura said that the Master Swordsman always had to begin in his weakest state as Gearfried before he got any better as the Swordsman._ So by the looks of things_, he thought, _trying to be the best before you even have the chance to improve... will get you nowhere. Heh, leave it to Bakura to provide the soul-searching epiphanies._

At that, Tristan drew a card and looked at it. A magic card. His eyes lit up; it was just what he needed!

"For my turn, I activate Card Destruction!" said Tristan. He placed the card on the dueling console. "We'll both discard our current hand of cards to the graveyard. Then we pick up from our deck the same amount of cards we discarded!"

Tristan fed his current hand into the Graveyard slot, and picked up five more cards from his deck. Then he took a look at his new hand of cards. _Bwa ha ha. Much better._

"With my new hand, I summon The Hunter With 7 Weapons!" With a burst of light, a burly man, bald and tanned, appeared on the field. Hidden beneath the monster's billowing red cape was a host of assorted weaponry.

Mai seemed to be less than impressed. "A monster with 1000 points?" she said, skeptically. "You should get stronger monsters if you want to stay in the big leagues, kiddo."

Tristan grinned. "He may be weak now, but wait 'til you see his special ability. I can declare a type of monster for him, and whenever he battles with that type, he gets an attack boost of another 1000 points, baby!"

"Hm. I'll assume you'll declare a Winged Beast-Type monster then, for my Harpie Lady."

"Nah." Tristan waved a hand dismissively. "I think I'll go along with a WARRIOR-TYPE monster!"

"If you insist," Mai replied, in dry amusement.

"That I do. And now I'll see your Harpies' Hunting Ground and raise by activating the magic card, The A. Forces!" said Tristan. A huge multi-colored force field enveloped Tristan's side of the field.

"As long as this card's on the field, all my warriors get an attack boost of 200 for each warrior or spellcaster on my side of the field. That means my Hunter gets a cool extra 200 attack points!" Tristan smirked as he watched his monster's attack stats increase to a rather unimpressive 1200.

"Oh. Wow," said Mai, dryly.

"Aha, mock my hunter NOW, but I hope you're hungry 'cuz you'll be EATING those words later!" said Tristan, in a bold fashion. Then he laid down a couple of cards in the console's Spell and Trap Zone. "All right, I'll set two m/t cards and end my turn," he said. Two horizontal facedown cards materialized on the field.

"No battle phase, eh? My turn then," said Mai, drawing a card. "I summon Harpie Lady 1 in attack mode!" Another hybrid of a bird and woman appeared, looking almost identical to the Cyber Harpie Lady, just sans the armor. It had flowing pink hair, while green wings sprouted from its arms.

"Consider your Harpie Lady UNsummoned!" said Tristan. "I activate my trap card, Trap Hole! This card destroys a monster with 1000 points or more, the instant it hits the field." A huge chasm opened beneath the Harpie, forcing it down beneath the ground.

"Hold it, I can still use the effect of my field magic card! A Harpie Lady has still been summoned and is able to destroy an m/t card on the field. Harpie Lady 1, destroy Tristan's A. Forces magic card!" Before it disappeared into the deepening chasm, the Harpie procured a whip and used it to slash through the A. Forces Card, destroying it. As a result, the Hunter's attack points shrank back to its original 1000.

Tristan gaped. _D'oh! Even if the Harpie is destroyed upon summoning, it's still considered summoned? Aw, I didn't know that!_

From afar, Tristan saw Mai put a hand on her hip. "Not bad, Tristan. But let's see how you can handle an attack from my Cyber Harpie Lady, who, should I remind you, has 2000 attack points thanks to my field magic card. Cyber Harpie Lady, attack the Hunter with Driving Double Slash!" The Harpie rose into the air, and blazed towards the Hunter, preparing to strike.

"Your Harpie won't do so hot when I turn her into a Warrior-Type monster! Activate the trap card, DNA Surgery!" said Tristan. The trap card flipped upwards on the dueling field, revealing itself. "As long as this continuous trap card's active, all monsters on the field are the type that I declare, which is, of course, Warriors!" The Harpie, in mid-flight, suddenly shed its green wings, barely able to fly.

"Your Harpie's no longer a Winged Beast-Type monster, Mai," said Tristan, crossing his arms. "So now your field power bonus is out the window!" Tristan watched in satisfaction as the Harpie's stats blipped back to 1800 attack points. _Mua ha ha! _"Furthermore, I'd earlier declared that the Hunter would increase his power whenever he fought a WARRIOR-type monster. And you know what THAT means!"

"I already declared an attack..." said Mai. The Harpie, gliding rather wobbly from the loss of most of its feathers, zoned in on the Hunter. The Hunter's attack points, meanwhile, blipped up to a superior 2000. At that, he raised a crossbow and fired an arrow through the Harpie, soundly defeating it.

"First blood, Mai," said Tristan smugly, as he watched Mai's lifepoints dip to 7800. _Heh, heh... Bet Bakura'd be proud_, he thought with a grin.

"Hmph. That means nothing," said Mai, tone dripping with amusement. "Though I have to say, Tristan, nice work."

"Hah, well, I've got a great teacher," Tristan replied. _Well, TEACHERS, really_, Tristan thought. _But that's not the point..._ "Hey Mai," Tristan called. "I bet you suspected something fishy from the start. Why didn't you destroy one of my FACEDOWN m/t cards?"

"Priorities, my dear Tristan. I'll set another m/t card, and end my turn here," said Mai.

"Priorities, huh? Okay, my turn," said Tristan, drawing a card. Tristan smiled at his current selection of cards. Lady Luck sure had it in for him today! "All right, first, I'll summon Gemini Elf--"

"Who gets destroyed due to my trap card, Torrential Tribute!" said Mai, cutting in. Suddenly, a savage torrent of water raged through the field, wiping out every one of Tristan's monsters. Tristan could have cried right there. _No-o-o! Just when everything was going so well..._

"I... guess I end my turn, then," said Tristan, finding no other options.

Mai drew her card. "This is where you learn the meaning of _hard luck_, junior. I activate the magic card, Monster Reincarnation! Using this magic card, I can discard a card to bring _back_ to my hand a monster card sent to the graveyard." She fed a card into the graveyard slot, and picked up another card from the same slot. _Gulp. That monster had to be important if she made such a sacrifice..._

"Now I'll summon a very familiar friend to the field: My Harpie Lady 1!" A flash of light announced the arrival of the Harpie, back again. Tristan figured this must've been the card that Mai picked up from the graveyard. "A Harpie Lady has been summoned, Tristan. So that DNA Surgery card is history!" The Harpie, at the moment wingless, ran towards said m/t card and shattered it with a forceful kick. With the DNA Surgery card destroyed, the Harpie grew back its green wings and claws, able to fly de novo.

"My Harpie is a Winged Beast-Type monster again," said Mai, calmly. "So not only does she get her field power bonus back, but she'll gain an _additional_ 300 thanks to her special ability." Then Mai pulled out a card from her hand. "Brace yourself, Tristan, because this will _hurt_. I activate the magic card, Shallow Burial! Paying 800 lifepoints, I can special summon a monster from my graveyard, and equip this card to it. And guess who I discarded to the graveyard earlier from Monster Reincarnation's effect?"

_Aw, no_, thought Tristan._ This does not sound good..._

Mai's voice had an air of complacency. "I'll now summon Harpies' Pet Dragon!" With a burst of sparks and a flapping of wings, a great crimson dragon emerged, roaring ferociously. It had a huge chainlink leash, which the Harpie seized possessively.

Tristan's eyes were sized to dinner plates. _Well, DANG._

"With my Harpie on the field, her pet dragon gets a power boost of 300, PLUS her special ability which raises its attack strength to 2600! And with your field wide open for a full-scale assault, my Harpie Lady and her pet dragon will attack your lifepoints directly!"

The Harpie swooped down at Tristan and swiped its claws at him, cutting deep into his lifepoints. Then the Harpies' Pet Dragon reared back and breathed a huge blast of fire that shot at Tristan's direction.

Tristan winced. He knew this was gonna hurt. Badly...!

The flames poured upon him and the console, chopping his lifepoints down to 3900. The spectacle felt him a little shaken from the pseudo-reality of it all. Tristan thought that maybe Kaiba did a little_ too_ good a job with the VR imagery!

"That all you've got? Better get yourself in _gear_, Tristan," said Mai. "It's your move."

Tristan drew a card anxiously. _Okay, so far so good_, he thought. "I'll set a monster facedown in defensive mode, and that'll be it for me," he said, placing the card sideways on the console.

"Going on defensive, eh? _Wise decision_," said Mai, drawing a card. "Now I activate the magic card, Pot of Greed!" After drawing two cards from her deck, Mai seemed to be happy with her cards. "In the mood for exchanging cards, Tristan? I activate the magic card, Creature Swap! You take my Pet Dragon, and I'LL take your facedown card!"

"What the..." said Tristan, as he watched his facedown monster card get sucked up by the machine, only to have another card pop out of the same slot. It was the Harpies' Pet Dragon card, which was automatically summoned unto Tristan's side of the field. He crinkled his forehead in thought. Mai, giving him her currently most powerful monster?

"Hey, uh, Mai, I appreciate the help and all, but..."

"Oh, but whoever said I was _helping_ you?" said Mai. Then she put down another card. "I summon the Amazoness Swordswoman, in attack mode!" A tanned woman garbed in spiked armor appeared on the field wielding a huge curved sword. "You'll grow to worry about this card as the game progresses, Tristan -- especially when I equip her with the cards, Heart of Clear Water and the Ring of Magnetism!" At that, a glowing green ring appeared the Swordswoman's finger, while a shower of red-colored rain enveloped her in a crimson aura.

"With the Ring of Magnetism, the Swordswoman's the only monster you're allowed to _attack_, Tristan," Mai explained. "Meanwhile, while she's equipped with Heart of Clear Water, the Swordswoman -- get this -- cannot be destroyed as a result of battle, NOR can she be destroyed by a specific card effect. But hey, at least battle damages are calculated normally. Good news for me, since I'm planning an all-out raid! Amazoness Swordswoman, attack the Pet Dragon with Sundering Slice!"

_Wa-a-i-i-t a second here..._ thought Tristan, befuddled. _Mai, sending a monster with 1000 attack points to charge a 2600 monster? True, it won't be destroyed because of Heart of Clear Water. But she'll still get battle damages... won't she?_

The Swordswoman obediently rushed toward the dragon, her sword raised. Tristan watched helplessly as the Dragon automatically counter-attacked, breathing a current of fire at the Swordswoman. Suddenly, the Swordswoman used her sword to _deflect_ the flaming attack -- right back at Tristan's direction!

Tristan's eyes widened at the sight. _Aw, HECK._

The deflected flames licked at Tristan, lowering his lifepoints from 3900 to 2300.

"As you can see, Tristan, you're the perfect whipping boy for battle damages due to my Swordswoman's effect. All battle damages involving her are inflicted to YOU instead of me! I recommend you take care attacking me from here on in. Anyway, that ends my turn," said Mai, brushing back her hair.

_So THAT'S what happened..._ thought Tristan. He drew a card in shock. What could he do? Mai's strategy was perfect. The Swordswoman was the only monster he could attack, and attacking only meant dishing out damage to HIMSELF. Tristan looked at the single card in his hand and found it to be of no help. Eventually he determined that going on defense would be the best move at that point.

"I'll switch the Harpies' Pet Dragon to defensive mode and end my turn," said Tristan, sliding the monster card sideways. The Pet Dragon crouched down and wrapped its wings around itself. _This way, it won't counterattack the Swordswoman_, he thought.

It was Mai's turn again, as she drew a new card. "Tristan," she said, "You DO realize that the Swordswoman _also_ sustains damage from attacking a monster in defensive mode. And since the Dragon has higher defense points than attack points, you've kind of shot yourself in the foot."

_What! Oh no..._ thought Tristan. _Dammit, how could I be so STUPID!_

"I'm sure you're aware of what's coming, Tristan. Amazoness, attack the Pet Dragon, AGAIN!" In response, the Swordswoman leapt up and jabbed her sword at the Dragon, who blocked the attack easily. Tristan grimaced as he saw his lifepoints thusly sink to 200.

"C'mon Tristan, shake it off. Focus!" said Mai, sternly. "Now I'll set one monster facedown in defense mode and end my turn," she said. A facedown card, placed sideways, appeared on her side of the field.

Tristan was really sweating it now. _200 lifepoints_, he thought anxiously. _There was no way I could make a comeback... _Despite that, Tristan remained hopeful, drawing a card and looking at his current hand. There was nothing but tribute monsters and an otherwise useless magic card. _Gee, choices, galore_, he thought, dully. It looked like there was nothing he could do.

Then -- abruptly -- a mental twitch stirred in Tristan's head, convincing him otherwise:

**_The Axe_**, a voice argued. **_Use the Axe on the Swordswoman now._**

Understandably, Tristan was really confused at that. _Where'd that voice come from? _he wondered. Certainly, _he_ wasn't the one coming up with that crazy idea… Compulsively, he looked to the stands, and suddenly saw Bakura sitting up there, with crossed arms. _Greatly_ relieved to see his friend, Tristan was about to wave to him, but then stopped, realizing something:

He saw Bakura _instantly_ in a sea of spectators as if he'd known exactly _where_ he was seated.

And furthermore, Bakura was staring at him intently. Fiercely. _Scarily_. Such a face suddenly looked familiar to Tristan, and come to think of it, the voice seemed recognizable as well…

_Blahh! _Tristan forced himself out of his musings. He decided to go along with that strange voice in his head, though skeptically, of course. _Exactly how was this going to make a difference_, he thought. _Unless the Swordswoman is destroyed, I'm as good as toast... _Then he realized something, grinning in giddiness and anticipation. _If it's equipped with..._ _Hey, hold the phone, this could WORK!_

"I think your Swordswoman could stand some _accessorizing_, Mai! So I'll activate the equip magic card, the Axe of Despair!" An apparition of a wooden-handled axe then appeared and hovered in midair. At that, the Axe suddenly shot out to fit in the Swordswoman's left hand.

"Confused, Mai?" said Tristan, grinning. "Well, currently the Swordswoman's can't be destroyed because she's equipped to the Heart of Clear Water magic card, correct? Thing is, the Swordswoman can only be equipped to Heart of Clear Water as long as her attack points are _under_ 1300," said Tristan, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "But! Now that the Swordswoman's equipped with the Axe, her attack points are raised from 1000 to 2000; _far_ above the 1300 limit. So it's good-bye, Heart of Clear Water!"

Tristan watched in glee as the designated card thusly exploded on Mai's field. As a result, the Swordswoman lost her red aura, partly returning to normal. _Now the Swordswoman can be destroyed, _thought Tristan, _and who am I to ignore a plus opportunity? Heh, heh._

"And by the way, I think it's time we get rid of this nuisance, don't you say?" said Tristan, nodding at the Harpies' Pet Dragon on his side of the field. "So I'll sacrifice it for a better monster -- say hello to HELPOEMER!"

At that, the Dragon disappeared into a black swirling vortex, to be replaced by a monstrous, blue skinned deformity that was nailed to an elaborately shaped gravestone.

"Whoa," said Mai, sounding a little disgusted. "Now that is one UGLY mother!"

"Ugly or not, there's more to this monster than you think," said Tristan slyly. Indeed, the card was special, as it wasn't _his_ card at all...

OIOIOIO

_It had been another night spent tutored by the spirit, a few days before the Tournament. Tristan had just finished a practice-duel with it. At the moment, a burning question had bothered Tristan for quite some time. He needed to know._

_"Hey," he said, facing the spirit. "That fortune-telling shtick you did a couple nights back... Well, uh... you think you could do it again? Like, tell me if I would WIN the Tournament or something... please?" He tensed a little, not knowing what to expect._

_The spirit smiled. **"That's not for me to say."**_

_"All right, that's cool," said Tristan, a little worried at the vague answer. "Well, in that case, you interested in joining the Tournament, too? You could be my trump card in case I lose, you know?" said Tristan. He grinned, meaning that as a joke, of course... but inwardly, he was hopeful. _

_The spirit put its elbows on the table, and steepled its fingers. **"If I entered the Tournament with you, you'd never play at your best. Bakura declines contestant participation for the same reason."**_

_"Oh..." He'd never thought of that... But since when was he determined to prove himself? He was simply trying to get the bucks for the Cabezas, that's all... Preoccupied with his thoughts, Tristan was suddenly startled when some cards slid across the table to him. Tristan gazed at the cards in front of him, and looked back at the spirit._

_"For me?" he asked. _

**_"Those cards should support your deck,"_**_ it said, simply._

_"Hey, thanks!" Tristan picked up the cards and flipped though them, impressed by the caliber of it: Spirit Reaper, Offerings to the Doomed, Helpoemer... _

_"Say, most of the monsters are either zombie or fiend-type," he said, curiously. "Do you think that it'll go with my warrior-themed deck?"_

_The spirit smiled again. **"You'd be surprised with how well conflicting elements work to your liking."**_

OIOIOIO

"EARTH TO TRISTAN! Hurry up and make your move already!"

_Huh? Er... _Tristan shook his head. _Right. _"Well Mai, I've finally found a way to stop your Swordswoman," said Tristan with a mischievous look. "Check out my Helpoemer's attack stats."

"They're even with my Swordswoman's, at 2000," said Mai. "Thinking of using your monster as a shield, perhaps?"

"Heck no, I'm taking matters into my own hands! Helpomer, attack the Swordswoman with Flaring Fusillade!" In response, the blue-skinned creature developed a ball of Abaddon-based energy, and projected it at the Amazoness Swordswoman. The Amazon skillfully dodged the attack, and buried her sword to the hilt in Helpoemer's chest. With its dying breath, Helpoemer unleashed a last onslaught of dark bolts that, with a great explosion, took both monsters out from the field.

Tristan grimaced at the sight. _Didn't want to do that to my own monster... but I was running out of options._ He looked up at Mai expectedly.

"Okay, you _did_ take out my Swordswoman," said Mai, a bit surprised. "But you've left yourself wide open for a direct attack from my Harpie Lady."

"That's what _you_ think!" said Tristan, pointing theatrically. "Judging by the number of monsters you have on the field, you've activated the special effect of my other monster. Let me introduce you to The Fiend Megacyber!" With a burst of sparks, a huge, armored monster appeared on the field, crackling with purple-colored electricity.

"Since you've got three other monsters on the field (soon to be two, heh), I'm able to special summon this monster without any sacrifices!" explained Tristan, gleefully. "And it looks like I don't have to worry about your Harpie Lady doing me damage any longer! Megacyber, attack the Harpie with Electric Eruption!" A blast of voltage soon ended things for the Harpie, and Mai was down to 7400 lifepoints.

"And here I thought you did yourself in," said Mai, amused.

"Hah, well don't count me out so easily Mai -- 'cuz Tristan Taylor is BACK with a vengeance!" _Whew_, Tristan thought. _Three cheers for that strange voice in my head..._ Then he looked up at Bakura in the stands. _...Or..._

"Hm, and I should say that the Megacyber's an improvement from your Helpoemer monster," said Mai, dryly.

"Y'know, I wouldn't put Helpoemer outta the picture that quickly..." said Tristan deviously. "...But eh, that ends my turn."

"All right then," said Mai, drawing her card. "For my first move, I'll flip summon my facedown monster, the Magician of Faith!" The card flipped to reveal a pony-tailed woman dressed in pink and purple robes.

Tristan blinked in surprise. _Tea's gonna have a field day with this one._

"Now I can pick a magic card from my graveyard; Pot of Greed should do nicely, WHICH I'll activate and get my two cards" said Mai. "And now it's about time I put YOUR card to good use too, Tristan," she said.

_Yeah, my Mysterious Guard monster... The card that got switched with the Harpies' Pet Dragon_, thought Tristan, remembering it all.

"I'll flip summon your Mysterious Guard," said Mai. "And use his effect to return my Magician of Faith to my hand!" At that, a simply dressed, hooded man appeared, and with a quick spell, sent the Magician of Faith flying back to Mai's hand of cards. "Then, I'll summon my Harpie Lady 3 in attack mode!" Another Harpie appeared, with spikey black hair this time. Suddenly, said Harpie whirled around and cleanly sliced through Mai's own field magic card.

"Wha -- why'd it destroy YOUR magic card?" said Tristan, confused.

"It's my field magic card's effect -- every time a Harpie's summoned, she HAS to destroy a m/t card on the field -- even if it means my own."

_Oh, right... there's no m/t cards on my side of the field anymore. _Then Tristan blinked again. "Doesn't that, you know, kinda suck for you?"

"All in the strategy, dear Tristan," said Mai, flippantly. "Now I activate Elegant Egotist on my Harpie Lady 3 to bring out -- you guessed it -- my Harpie Lady Sisters!" A beautiful pattern criss-crossed the field to reveal three separate Harpie Ladies (_And all with different hair-do's_ thought Tristan, amused). "I end my turn."

Tristan drew his card. Upon viewing the card, his face lit up: _Whoo-hoo, my luck's starting to turn around..._ "I'll activate Pot of Greed too, and get my two cards!" After drawing his cards, he looked at them thoughtfully. _Heh, this'll do..._ "All right, I activate the magic card, Reinforcement of the Army! I can retrieve a level 4 or lower Warrior Monster from my deck to my hand. And I think I'll choose my Marauding Captain - who I'll SUMMON!" Tristan slapped down his card to reveal a man clad in spikey armor, wielding a sword. "Then," said Tristan, "using his special effect, I can special summon another warrior from my hand. And guess who I've got for the job? That's right -- ANOTHER Marauding Captain!" The Captain's identical twin then appeared on the field.

"And since my two Marauding Captains are too weak to do any real attacking..." said Tristan.

"Which is a wonder why you even summoned them..." Mai muttered.

"I heard that! Anyway, since they're too weak, I'll attack instead with Megacyber!" _Okay, _thought Tristan,_ Mai's Harpie Lady and Harpie Lady Sisters are wide open to attack, and she knows it_. _She MUST have something up her sleeve in that m/t card she set; probably one of her Mirror Walls. The safest bet is to go after the much weaker Mysterious Guard… my own monster... Argh, not again…_

"Megacyber..." said Tristan, hesitantly, "Attack the Mysterious Guard, now!" The monster obediently fired a swift electric shock to the hooded Guard, causing it to explode. And thusly, Mai's lifepoints shrank to 6000.

"Aanndd, that would do it for me," said Tristan, ending his turn. _Heh, heh, just gotta take it one step at a time,_ he thought, with high hopes.

"You're coming along rather nicely, Tristan," said Mai, drawing her card. "I STILL don't know why you summoned those Marauding Captains, but whatever the case, my Harpies will _quickly_ solve that problem! Harpies, put the Captains out of their misery!" The winged creatures rose up in unison and closed in to attack, when...

CLANG! Both Captains swung their swords to parry the attack of the Harpies.

"What's this?" said Mai, astonished.

"Hey, I'd put those Cap'ns on the field for a reason," said Tristan with a huge grin. "As long as they're both on the field, their special ability ensures that you _can't attack_ any Warrior-type monster on my field -- and that includes my Megacyber! Heh, heh, now that's what you call TEAMWORK--"

"Save it, twerp," said Mai, brushing it off. "All right, then I'll -- AHH!" Abruptly, an apparition of a blue-skinned monstrosity rose out of nowhere, and pointed at Mai's hand of cards.

"Aw, don't tell me you forgot about Helpoemer _already_!" said Tristan, pretending to pout. "Well, let's be fair -- _I_ forgot to tell you that his special ability involves you randomly discarding a card from your hand after your battle phase. Helpoemer, pick one out for her, won't you please?"

Hissing, Helpoemer stretched an arm and snatched a card away from Mai, sending the card to her Graveyard. Then, with a gust of wind, Helpoemer returned to Tristan's graveyard.

"Hrm... well, that was unexpected," said Mai, who seemed to be grinding her teeth in frustration. "I'll set a monster facedown in defensive mode, and set an m/t card. End turn."

Tristan couldn't help but hum a little to himself as he picked up his card. Mai had no more cards left in her hand, which led her to a great disadvantage... _Which actually gives me a ghost of a chance!_ thought Tristan, giddily. He looked at his new card. _Hey... this could help get out my specialty monsters... _"All right, for my turn, I activate the magic card, Painful Choice! I choose five cards from my deck, and you, Mai, will choose one to go to my hand, while the rest go to my graveyard." Tristan shuffled through his deck, and brought out five different monsters. "Okay, Mai... which one should I keep?" he asked, holding out his selection.

Mai spent a minute looking at the selection that materialized on her console screen. "Go ahead and keep your Gorg the Strong," she said, nodding.

"Sounds good," said Tristan, inserting the rest of his cards into the graveyard slot. "Now, for the heck of it, I'll activate the magic card, Soul Release! I can choose up to five cards in my or your graveyard and remove them from play. And I know JUST the cards that I want..." At that, a ghostly figure of a woman rose up from the field in a gentle breeze, and swept away five of Tristan's cards in his graveyard.

Mai's eyebrows were slightly raised in curiosity. "Just what are you up to, Tristan?"

Tristan grinned in response. "You'll see! In the meantime, I'll set my Captains in defense mode, JUST in case. But I have different plans for my Megacyber, who'll attack your facedown monster!" The Megacyber charged up to the facedown card, grabbed it, and gave it a ferocious electric shock. The facedown card, before exploding in defeat, revealed itself to be the Magician of Faith. _The same one that my Mysterious Guard sent back to Mai's hand, as suspected, _thought Tristan with a frown. _Now she can retrieve a magic card to turn the duel in her favor..._

"Well, Tristan," said Mai, crossing her arms. "As per my Magician's special ability, I get to retrieve a magic card from my graveyard. Elegant Egotist should do nicely." Mai picked up her card, and then looked up. "Finished?"

Tristan nodded. "Yep."

"My turn, then. I'll draw!" Mai then looked at her two cards for a moment, frowning. "I end my turn."

"What, giving up already?" said Tristan, grinning.

"Just _draw_, dork."

"All right," said Tristan, his hand reaching for his hand of cards. Tristan knew that he needed to get more cards and _fast_ if he wanted to win. It was likely inevitable that a pro like Mai would figure out how to break past his barrier of Captains. _So if there was a time for The Heart of the Cards to show itself_, thought Tristan, it was _NOW!_

He drew.

His eyes widened at his draw: The Magician of Faith_. Holy Mackerel..._ thought Tristan, smiling. _This Heart of the Cards thing DOES work!_ "I'll set a monster card facedown in defensive mode, and I'm done," said Tristan.

Mai drew her card, and smiled upon viewing it. "I'm afraid I'll have to bust _through_ your little Captain blockade with the help of the magic card, Tribute to the Doomed!" said Mai. "By discarding one card from my hand, I can destroy one monster on the field. So consider one of your Captains CRUNCHED!" said Mai, smugly. At that, a huge mummy appeared on the field to swallow the poor Captain whole, before disappearing into the field. Only one Captain was left on the field now, who was looking rather bothered at the sight.

"Er, whoa," said Tristan, utterly shocked. "And you call _my _moves unexpected? That was just not your style, Mai."

Mai shrugged. "As a duelist, you always need to find ways to rattle your opponent and catch 'em off guard. Anyway, now I'll activate Elegant Egotist to special summon... My Harpie Lady 1!" With a flash of sparks and a flick of wings, another Harpie appeared on the field.

Tristan looked on, curious. "No Harpie Lady Sisters this time?"

"Nope. I wanted my Harpie Lady 1 for her special ability; she can increase the attack of any wind attribute monster on the field by 300 points," Mai explained. "That leaves my Harpie Lady Sisters at 2250, and my two Harpie Ladies at 1800 each! And without both Captains there to defend you, you can consider your monsters done for! Harpie Lady 1, put out the Captain with Barreling Tackle!" The Harpie rocketed forward, and slammed the Captain into floor, crushing him into defeat. "Now, with your Fiend Megacyber defenseless; Harpie Lady Sisters, attack the Megacyber with Kaleidoscopic Fury!" And with criss-crossing slashes, the Harpies sliced their target into ribbons.

"And finally..." said Mai, "Harpie Lady 3, destroy that facedown monster card!" The Harpie dove into the card, drilling through it. Said card materialized into the Magician of Faith, who temporarily blocked the attack. Before she let the attack through, she quickly sent a magic card flying to Tristan's hand, before being destroyed. And Tristan could've sworn he saw a look of encouragement on the Magician's face beforehand. Tristan couldn't help but feel bad at the sight. _Yep, _thought Tristan, scratching his head, _Kaiba made this game WAY too realistic. _

"Looks like you no longer have any monsters left on your field, Tristan," said Mai. "And since there's no cards in my hand, there's nothing for your little Helpoemer to discard. Shame. Well, that does it for me," said Mai, ending her turn.

"Okay," said Tristan. He looked down at the card that the Magician sent back to his hand. Pot of Greed. _Just what the doctor ordered! _"I'll draw! Then I'll activate the magic card, Pot of Greed, adding two more cards to my hand!" He briefly paused to look at his cards. "I'll set two m/t cards, and I'm done."

"Suit yourself," said Mai, drawing her card. "Your open field is just _begging_ for an assault -- Harpies, attack his lifepoints directly and END this duel!" The Harpies rose into the air in unified formation, and barreled toward Tristan, their claws outstretched.

"Not so fast -- I activate my trap card, Waboku! All battle damages get turned into zip during this turn!" At the declaration, three maidens clad in blue robes raised a barrier to block the Harpies' attack. "And gee, Mai," Tristan added, "you actually had a battle phase... Helpoemer, if you'll do the honors?" And once again, an apparition of said monster sent Mai's card to the graveyard, leaving her once again with no cards in her hand.

"Huh. I end my turn," said Mai.

"My turn, draw!" said Tristan, picking up a card. He looked at his card, smiling. "Get ready Mai, for the MOVE OF A LIFETIME! First, I'll activate a familiar magic card, The A. Forces! You remember that my monsters get 200 more attack points per each warrior or spellcaster I have on my field, right?"

Mai looked over at Tristan's empty field, and snorted. "WHAT monsters?"

"Right here! Activate the trap card, _Return from a Different Dimension_! Paying away HALF of my lifepoints, I can bring back as many monsters as possible to my field that were _removed from play_."

Mai's eyes widened. "The five cards that were Soul Released..."

"That's right!" said Tristan. A huge portal forcefully began to contort and swirl around above the dueling field. "You last saw those cards when I activated Painful Choice… but let's have a better introduction here, shall we? PRESENTING, the DREAM TEAM of Duel Monsters -- the posse of powerhouses, the ass-kickers of adversaries! Enter the DARK SCORPION BURGLARS!" Five monsters dropped from the portal, one after the other.

"Meet Don Zaloog!" And down dropped a well-muscled man sporting an eyepatch, a gray vest, wristlets, and baggy red pants. The monster smirked challengingly while brandishing a pair of sharp-looking gladii. He appeared to be the leader of the group.

"Cliff the Trap Remover!" Another monster dropped down, a bespectacled man wearing the same outfit as Don. He leered lecherously at Mai while tossing some lock picks in his hand.

"Gorg the Strong!" An extremely muscled man leaped down, again wearing the same costume, with a scar running down his right eye. He donned a HUGE metal mace, scowling grimly.

"Meanae the Thorn!" A woman descended, with a thorn-studded whip swirling about, a stern expression on her face. She also wore a similar costume as her teammates.

"And, last but not least, Chick the Yellow!" A young boy plummeted feet first to the field, holding an oversized mallet, grinning up at Mai mockingly. He too wore similar clothing, and, like all of them, had an image of a scorpion tattooed on his right arm.

"How… is that possible?" said Mai. "I sent your Gorg the Strong back to your hand!"

"That you did," said Tristan, smiling a bit. "But thanks to me Card Destructing my hand of cards earlier on my first turn, I'd sent _another_ Gorg to the graveyard! A good duelist oughta have copies of the same monster, right?"

"Hm…" Mai could find no other retort.

Tristan smirked in spite of himself. That _Return from a Different Dimension _card had really come in handy... Tristan rolled his eyes a little when he remembered that the card had been one of Devlin's little _presents_ that was given to him at the incident over at Jay's. As hard as it was for Tristan to say it, he'd have to thank the guy one day.

He looked up at Mai to explain the predicament: "By the way, take in mind that they're all warrior-type monsters, which means, due to the effect of the A. Forces, they all get a power boost of 1000 attack points each!" Both Mai and Tristan watched as Don's attack point stats went to 2400, Cliff's to 2200, Gorg's to 2800, Meanae's to 2000, and Chick's to 2000.

"But that's not all! I'll equip Cliff the Trap Remover with the equip card, Megamorph, doubling his attack power to 4400, JUST in case you were planning to use a Mirrorwall on me! Cliff, attack Harpie Lady 1 -- and then use your special ability to destroy Mai's m/t card!" The Dark Scorpion obeyed, procuring a set of daggers that with a quick throw, imbedded itself into the Harpie, destroying it. Once that was done, Cliff brandished his lockpicks and set to work on Mai's facedown m/t card, eventually disabling it. Before the m/t card was destroyed, it revealed itself not as a Mirrorwall, but as some magic card... Tristan strained to read it:

_Triangle... Ecstasy... Spark..._? _Wait a minute..._

Tristan remembered that card... it could raise the Harpie Lady Sister's attack to 2700, and prevent the opponent from using or activating trap cards...

Tristan looked down in shame. He knew Mai had no more m/t cards to protect her, and she and her monsters were wide open to attack from the rest of his Dark Scorpions. This game was over. But Tristan realized that Mai could've ended it _long_ ago since.

"Hey, what's the HOLDUP!" said Mai, waving her arms.

"Uh... I..." stammered Tristan, still hanging his head.

"TRISTAN," said Mai, sternly. "FINISH IT."

Tristan looked up to find Mai smiling.

"I don't want this thing to last all DAY, believe it or not," she said.

Tristan managed to force a shaky smile. "You asked for it... Gorg and Chick! Take out the Harpie Lady Sisters and Harpie Lady 3! Meanae and Don! Attack Mai's lifepoints directly and end it!" Gorg and Chick charged ahead to bludgeon the Harpies with their clubs, while Meanae and Don leaped above their comrades to slice away at Mai's remaining lifepoints.

Once Mai's lifepoints hit 0, The machine's humming began to soften and slow down as it shut down the VR mechanisms of the duel. It then announced Tristan as the winner by keeping his side of the field lighted. The lifepoint scores were displayed:

**Tristan Taylor:** 50 LP, **Mai Valentine:** 0 LP

Finally, Tristan felt the machine lowering him down to the floor. He stepped off the machine, and walked over to Mai, who met him halfway.

"Good game, Tristan," said Mai, extending her hand for a friendly handshake.

Tristan accepted the handshake, his eyes still downcast. "... I'd agree, but... look, we both know you didn't play your hardest. Why'd you let me win, Mai?"

Mai frowned, her eyebrows raised. "You should give yourself credit for some of those stunts you pulled off. That was pretty impressive."

"Yeah, but c'mon, you could've knocked me out of the duel a long time ago. I mean, at least since your last turn, with your Triangle Spark card thingie..." said Tristan, grinning sheepishly.

Mai smiled, gazing off to the side. "Funny, I set that magic card down on the field so your Helpoemer monster couldn't steal it from me. Then I forgot all about it."

Tristan rolled his eyes, smiling. "_Sure_ you did."

Mai sighed, shaking her head. "Tristan, you don't usually duel, correct? You must be doing this for a reason?"

"Yeah, I'm here for someone..."

"Then isn't it important that you've won? Every victory will count towards your end score. Besides..." said Mai, flipping her hair aside. "...I've won too many duels for my taste." Then suddenly, her confident aura started to fade. "...And if I'd won, it would just be another empty victory, anyway..." she murmured, trailing off.

Tristan stared at Mai in puzzlement. "Hey... you al--"

"Fine, fine," said Mai, waving it off. "Y'know, Tristan, for someone I've never seen duel, you did very well. I'm surprised I've never seen you play 'til now."

Tristan grinned, rubbing his head. "We-e-e-l-l, Bakura helped me out a TON. Wouldn't have made it this far without him!"

"Bakura!" Mai smiled in recognition. "Is he in the tournament?"

"No, strangely enough. He's up with the spectators," said Tristan nodding at the stands. Abruptly, he remembered the spirit's previous words: _"If I entered the Tournament with you, you'd never play at your best. Bakura declines contestant participation for the same reason." _Tristan found himself wondering at that declaration: really now, what use would trying his best be if he sucked from the get-go?

"I see," said Mai, interrupting his thoughts. "Well, anyway, let's discuss your deck. It has a lot of potential, though I have to say that it needs some work. You need a better offense or stall tactic before you can get your Dark Scorpions out, especially when you're looking at the caliber of the competition. I'd suggest you'd take out some of those _useless_ cards in your deck, and replace them with the ones you win from opponents."

"USELESS?" said Tristan, twitching a bit.

Mai ignored the outburst by flipping through some cards from her deckbox. She held out two cards to Tristan, and when he took a better look at them, he found that they were her Amazoness Swordswoman and a Mirror Wall.

"Here. The Swordswoman is a great stall/burn tactic AND is warrior-type to fit with your theme. Meanwhile, the Mirrorwall is a good way to protect your relatively weak Dark Scorpions. Replace those two _gawd-awful_ cards, that _Hunter with Seven Weapons_ and _DNA Surgery_ with these new ones."

Tristan couldn't help but grin in response. "Those cards are only bad 'cuz you got _owned_ by them."

"Don't push it, Junior." She handed the two cards to Tristan, who hesitantly took them.

"_Two_ cards? Are you sure?"

"Hah, don't worry, I'll be winning more cards from opponents before you know it."

"Heh..." _There goes Mai with her confidence again._ "Don't worry, Mai, I'll take good care of them, before I give them back."

Mai grinned back. "You'd better, punk."

Amused, Tristan was about to comment, when he overheard several people chatting a short distance away:

"Look guys, Mai Valentine just lost to some guy over there!" said a teenaged boy, pointing at the lifepoint scores.

"Eh, no surprise," said another fellow, impassively. "She's definitely not in the same league as Wheeler or that Yugi kid. I never did understand all that hype about her in Duelist Kingdom."

"Yeah. I'll bet you I can beat her quick," said a girl, boastfully.

None of the group saw a figure approach them from the side. "Psh, says you. In all honesty, Mai would wipe the FLOOR with ALL of your weanie a--"

"Easy DOES it, Tristan!" said Mai, dragging him away from the group. Said group was slightly shocked at the intrusion, but was charitable enough to let it go and walk away.

To say that Tristan was pissed was an understatement. He'd seen Mai slightly flinch earlier at the comments, and yet she was still able to keep a deadpan expression. He had a feeling that she was no stranger to all the negative buzz.

"Tristan, I appreciate you sticking up for me, but that won't accomplish anything," said Mai, looking a bit miffed.

"... I just don't UNDERSTAND it," said Tristan, jamming his hands into his pockets. "You're so damn GOOD, and yet you get put down!"

Mai shook her head, smiling a bit. "Don't worry about it. People can think all they want of me. I just don't let them change what I think of _myself_, understand?"

Tristan looked at Mai for a moment, before smiling in understanding. "Yeah! Who cares about popularity when you _know_ you kick ass!"

Mai smirked with a slight nod. "Darn right. I'll see you around," she said, walking away.

"Cool... thanks," said Tristan, as he watched Mai disappear into the crowd. _I owe you one..._

Now alone, Tristan scanned the spacious arena. With their duel over, he knew that other opponents would be using the machine soon. He had to get out of here. There was only one problem...

WHERE, exactly, was the exit?

Continued...

OIOIOIO

Afterthoughts: Oogh, apologies for the LONG delay in updates ('Specially since I said "See you soon!" last chapter! -smacks head-) Blame the Writer's Block! Me SMASH Writer's Block! (or is it the other way around? Hehe)

(1) _Gearfried the Swordmaster_: When I originally mentioned the Master Swordsman, I was referring to a Waking the Dragons episode, when Joey was dueling against Rex Raptor. However, shortly after I wrote chapter 4 of Unlikely Duelist, Konami (the company that produces the Yu-Gi-Oh card game) released the latest series, _Flaming Eternity_, and what'd I see? Not a Master Swordsman, but rather a Gearfried the Swordmaster. Beauty of a name. I'll choose to switch over to that name from now on. You know, I've heard worse names for the Swordsman -- I heard from some friends that he was called NAKED GEARFRIED at one point? (grin)

(2) _A lifeboat floating away at sea_: I sorta stole that line from the book, _Summer of My German Soldier_, by Bette Greene. See, I give credit, dammit!

(3) _Mokuba on Tournament Rules_: Most of the stuff listed are actual rules for Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monster Regional tournaments. I got all my info here: h t t p : w w w . dreamwizards . c o m / yugiohregionalfaq . h t m l (yeah, you gotta delete some of the spaces, argh)

(4) _Kaiba and his l'il parachute_: SPOILERS AHEAD - - - Kaiba pulls off a way cooler stunt than this in future episodes. Well, okay, that wasn't really a spoiler. Still.

OIOIOIO

Thank you's: Man, seriously, you guys are really an inspiration to me, and I will honestly say that if it wasn't for you, this fic would have been so much more suckier than now. Thanks for the support and the opportunity to improve!

**Nanashi:** UWAAHH! (cries, collapses and does bicycle pedaling in air XD) Thank you, it means so much to hear praise from one of THE legendary Tristan-gurus of all time! But really, if you felt that way about my fic, you should have seen ME when I read yours! (faints) It was like, "Hark! A LIGHT, straight ahead in this dark cave," lol! Glad to hear that you thought that the relationships were all right - I was wondering if they were too over-the-top or not, heh! Ahh... (chases birds away from birdhouse) Shoo, shoo! MY shrine... no touchie... (growls, huggles shrine) 'Til next time, bananas, and CAHOOTS!

**Peter Kim:** Peter! Heh, I gotta say, your ideas really helped me along with this fic! It never occurred to me that I should actually use some original Yu-Gi-Oh characters as contestants in the tournament, until you brought it up! Thank you for sharin' the ideas, and letting me shamelessly steal them, bwahaha! I must ask you, though, do you play the Yu-Gi-Oh card game? You sound like a very good duelist yourself! By the way, though I've never seen the Pharoah's Memory series, I've checked up on it, and Yami Bakura's deck sounds pretty darn cool. No wonder he gave Yugi so much trouble with it!

**Everyone's Anti-Valentine:** Heh, heh, yeah I get that thing where I don't review for AGES, and I really freak out about if the author would hold it against me for that! But really, no worries, it's all good! And aw, thanks for the compliments on the duels! (blush) That means a lot, since I had a helluva time on this chapter - writing duels, ack, 'tis hard! Thanks so much for reviewing! (waves)

**Kkwy:** Gah, thanks much, I was getting a little worried about my portrayal of the Bakuras, wondering whether they were out of character or not! It's a relief to hear that they weren't so bad, heh! As for the question of if Yami Bakura is messing with Tristan, I wouldn't be surprised... hahaha!

**Tailsmegawriter:** Your wish is my command, though it took me long enuff! Thanks, it's real nice to find a reader that likes the fic that much! (grin)

**gothy wolfie:** I hear you! That duel with Duke and Serenity was NO real duel! We want to see Tristan duel on his OWN without any immediate source of help! Thus, this fic, heh, heh! And you know, I should be thanking you for your encouragement, AND for your appreciation of Tristan. Can't find too much of that... so it's good we show that he really DOES have spirit, ya know! (skips around)

**Von Stupor:** Dude! It's finally finished! (celebrates) Man, after writing this, I have yet even MORE respect for your fics! Not many stories are written based on duels, and I can see why! It takes a BUNCH of strategic planning to forethink of game moves, and you do that splendidly. Me... meh, lol! Anyways, I really appreciate all the constructive suggestions, it helped me out a BUNCH in this. As for the shonen-ai, I'm glad you're reading anyway, that does mean a lot!

**Mangez Maltesers:** Hehe, thanks a million! Hearing THAT from a very talented fellow Tristan fan affects me to no bounds! (beams) I'm so happy that you liked the interaction between Tristan and Yami Bakura - I try to make it nice, since it's one 'o my fave couples, heh! On the duels, YAY! I'm glad you found them interesting, since honestly speaking, duels can be boring. But I got the idea of style in writing the duels from Baron Von Stupor, who wrote a great fic involving dueling. Still, I had a buncha difficulty in writing this one, though (flops on ground) Whew… XD

OIOIOIO

Next: Lost in Kaiba Land! -OR- Ninjas ATTACK!


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